So it begins
by Tinkerbell45
Summary: There has always been some tension between Lily and James, but is it hatred or love? This is set to intensify when James suspects Lily likes one of his friends, but why does he care so much? Please read/review.
1. The Train

Hi, please read and review – hope you like the story!

Chapter 1 – The Train

As the Hogwarts Express pulled out of London, students were moving in and out of compartments saying hello to their fellow students they had missed over the summer.

Lily Evans, a pretty red headed girl was amongst the hustle and bustle, poking her head above and around people trying to find her two best friends.

"LILS!" one girl shouted as she knocked over a second year tryng to get past, "been looking for you everywhere" she grinned.

Lily's closest friend, Cassandra Radley had spotted her. Cassie was very different to Lily, but they complemented each other well. She was very confident, beautiful (and sometimes knew this) and had such an infectious personality that everyone knew and loved her. She had shortish brown hair, dark piercing eyes and was extremely pretty. Her other best friend was Arabella Figg or 'Figgy' as most people knew her. Figgy was quite plain compared to Cassie but she was a lot more compassionate, she could pick up on her friends moods and always find a way to cheer them up. Lily would always refer to her as the girl's agony aunt.

Lily ran over and out her arms around both girls. "Summers been horrible, all I've done the whole time is hide away in my room from Petunia. I'm so glad to be back. How was yours?" They found an empty compartment up ahead and sat down to catch up for what seemed like years.

"Was great thanks LIly, haven't done any work though, Slughorns gonna kill me". Cassie replied with a sheepish look on her face.

"I haven't done a lot either but it can't be helped, too busy enjoying my summer, but unlike you Cassie, I didn't spend my whole summer daydreaming about a certain Mr Potter" Figgy laughed.

"I happen to be completely over him now actually, he may be smart and incredibly athletic" she said dreamily "but I have turned my attentions elsewhere"

Laughing even louder, Figgy asked "where then"

" The only lad in this school worthy of me, Sirius Black, of course"

Lily rolled her eyes "So you've moved from an immature arrogant boy to a serial womaniser? You should stay clear from the Marauders"

"Speaking of which, Lily" said Cassie "Aren't you meant to be at the preliminary prefects meeting with Remus" with a smug look on her face.

"I know, I'm on my way"

Lily picked up her bag and tried her best to feel upbeat about the forthcoming meeting, while it was an honour to be chosen, she was insecure and hated speaking out to large groups which was mandatory for a sixth year prefect.

As she passed three compartments filled with couples, she began to feel worse knowing all her friends wanted and probably would do this year is hang out with lads and she wanted to study and be prepared for the newts the next year. And worse, if Cassie was after Sirius, they'd be forced to hang around with the Marauders all year who sh.e particuarly despised after they had humiliated her year after year with their silly pranks.

She noticed Remus coming out of one of the compartments. He waved to her.

"Hey Lily, I was just coming to fetch you, you heading towards the meeting?"

"Yeah, you glad to be back and ready for business?" Remus was Lily's favourite Marauder, he was sensible, clever and stood by her even when she laid down the law to fellow Gryffindors. She couldn't help notice he was looking particularly pale today.

"Course, back with old friends"

"Well they're not the upside of my year"

"Hey Moony, oh hey Evans", James Potter had shouted from his compartment, "don't forget to mention lifting the ban on Zonkos products".

He laughed and Lily knew this year was going to be exactly as she had thought.


	2. First Day

Chapter 2 – First day

"So you didn't listen to Potter yesterday then" Lily asked Remus when she found him on the staircase on the way down to breakfast.

"He isn't as bad as you think Lily, Sirius eggs him on. They just like a laugh"

"Well it is possible to have fun without breaking every school rule there is"

Remus chuckled as he went to join the other Marauders; though he sometimes didn't approve of the pranks they carried out, he knew that they were only harmless and a bit of fun.

As Lily caught up with Cassie and Figgy, she was disappointed to find that they had arranged to sit on Sirius's table to try and catch his attention.

"But he'll just flirt with you a bit and move on to some other girl in first lesson, you could do so much better" Lily began.

"Well I thought so too, which is why I went after James last year but I now have things in perspective, Sirius and I are soul mates" Cassie explained.

"Ha, soul mates, you haven't even gone out on a date and Potter isn't better, he's just as bad" Lily said this with such disgust, it made even Figgy comment.

"For someone who hardly knows a boy, you're a bit quick to judge Lils, Potters not all bad, dare I say sometimes he's even quite funny"

"I don't know what it, just the way he plays his stupid pranks without thinking of others, the way he messes with his hair and how he thinks everyone should bow down to him cause he can catch a snitch."

While Lily had built herself up in quite a temper, Cassie was eyeing up Sirius waiting for an invitation to sit down and sure enough he waved her over.

"Cassie, it's good to see you, and the rest of you ladies" Sirius produced one of his trademark smiles that made all girls swoon, all except Lily who put her tray down and ate quietly, directly opposite James.

"You alright Evans? you're a bit quiet. Surely you've got something to moan about" James asked curiously.

"Fine, just implementing some new rules for the Gryffindor common room"

"Can I take a look?"

"Well I'm sure you won't abide by them anyhow but sure" Lily turned the parchment around so James could read them.

"WHAT!" James exclaimed. " No wizards chess between the hours of 3 and 6. That's ridiculous, we all like a game in the evening"

"Well it disturbs those who actually want to study, though you might want to mess around and become a nobody after school Potter, not everyone does" Lily had noticed her voice rise, but there was something about James Potter that made her angrier than she should be.

"Just because I like a game of Wizards chess doesn't mean I don't study,. In fact, according to my knowledge, I have a higher grade than you in Transfiguration, I believe you only got an acceptable in your owls. In fact, Evans, if you're struggling don't hesitate to ask for some help, I'm happy to help those who find it difficult to grasp things". He smiled at her in a rather sarcastic way knowing full well this would irriatate her more than scowling or shouting at her.

"I don't need any help thank you Potter" and with that she grabbed her parchment and headed towards the library, probably to brush up on her transfiguration.

First lesson of the day was History of Magic which wasn't pleasantly received.

"What's this about" Figgy said waving her timetable in the air,

"I know!" Cassie interrupted, "History of Magic first thing on a Monday morning, the school's in chaos".

Lily had very little to say on the matter, her head was still in the argument she'd had with James that morning. She hadn't realised he was that intelligent, she knew he wasn't stupid but nonetheless she was surprised he was beating her in any subject. After a riveting hour learning all about the second Giant War, all three girls had a free lesson and decided to hang out in the common room. Whilst there Lily had noticed the four Marauders whispering in a corner. She was listening intently trying to figure out what they were saying, it was probably something to do with breaking the rules.

"Well it seems our Lily can't take her eyes off them" Cassie mischievously commented.

"Yeah which one is it that has caught your eye Lils" Figgy carried on "Bet its Remus, I mean you two do have a lot in common"

"Shut up you two" Lily grinned, "You know what they're like probably planning a prank and as Prefect, I will not condone it, and as for a crush on Remus, he's not my type"

Noticing that the three girls were looking in their direction, Sirius decided to walk over, never missing the chance to show off.

"Hello ladies, how are we all"

And as Cassie, Figgy and Sirius began discussing which Slytherin they'd most like to stun and why, James leaned over and whispered in Lily's ear,

"When are we having these transfiguration lessons then Evans", his eyes glistened.

"Shut up Potter I'm working" Lily responded with an evil glare.

"what you working on Lily?" Remus quietly asked.

"Um, something for Ancient Runes, really interesting actually" Lily smiled and Figgy and Cassie were the only ones to notice.

Later that evening, Lily had to spend the whole evening defending herself telling her friends over and over that she and Lupin were merely friends. Meanwhile in Sirius's room they were also discussing the events of the day.

" I never noticed before but that Cassie's quite cool for a girl" Sirius began.

"Yeah she is actually, shame Lily can't follow suit" James grinned.

"Well she certainly seems angry towards you mate" Peter piped in. James smirked a little,

"Yeah well she hasn't exactly been friendly to me since second year when I humiliated her in front of Slughorn. Remember, I slipped that potion into her drink and she could only sing. She sang to Slughorn that she needed more salamander blood and he gave her detention for ridiculing a teachers authority." James and the other Marauders laughed.

"But I can win her over with my Potter charm".

"Don't count on it mate" Sirius said "She really can not stand you"


	3. Further Aggravation

Chapter 3 – Further aggravation

"So what spell transfigures a pen into a pencil case?" asked Professor McGonagall to the class.

Lily raised her hand, "Yes Miss Evans"

"It's Demalinora Profesor" said Lily looking pleased with herself.

"I'm afraid not Miss Evans, Mr Potter?"

"Delienza" Shouted Potter across the classroom with a smirk on his face, aimed at Lily.

"Correct Mr Potter, 10 points for Gryffindor"

"Go on Prongs" Shouted Sirius.

Transfiguration ended, but Gryffindor still had Potions to go before the day had ended. Whilst walking towards the dungeons, Lily looked fuming.

"Whats wrong with you Lily, slow down" said Figgy trying to catch up.

"It's just Potter, trying to show me up as usual, he gets me so mad". As she said this the Marauders were coming their way,

"Alright Cas" Sirius winked as they went passed. Cassie looked quite happy with themselves as they walked into Potions. It was a Practical lesson today which meant they were to get into their partnered groups. Lily looked around and saw her partner wasn't present. She raised her hand.

"Professor, Remus isn't here today, he must be sick"

"So he is Miss Evans, you pair with Mr Potter today as Mr Jones is ill also"

Lily looked across the classroom at James, she felt dread as she walked over but she knew she couldn't ignore the teacher's orders.

"Hi, you as good at Potions as Transfiguration Evans" James said with a laugh and upon the look on Lily's face said

"Come on Evans take a seat, we're making the fortune potion today!"

As Lily and James were making the Potion, there was an awkward silence between them until James decided he'd take the first move.

"Glad to be back then Evans?"

"yeah" Lily replied not looking up

"Still full of conversation as usual then or is it just me who you prefer not talking to"

"still self obsessed then" Now Lily looked up to see James smiling

"I'm not the one playing the victim and asserting my Prefect authority where ever i can" Still smiling James even laughed to see the shock on Lily's face.

"I take my duties very seriously thank you - pass the newt - and as for playing the victim Slughorn still hates me for ridiculing him and i work really hard to do well" Lily said finishing off the potion.

"you're not the only one i've pranked, i charmed Snape's quill into writing horrible comments about professors yesterday. He's in detention as we speak. James said laughing.

Lily looked in admiration, " thats a fine bit of magic, yet i don't approve. Severus isn't all bad" James scowled and was about to retort when Professor Slughorn said

"Right that's about it, i want the theory for your potion in on Friday whioch means working in twos in your spare time. See you Friday". And with that James walked out.


	4. Spare Time

Hi – forgot to put a disclaimer on – please don't sue me; I own none of the characters seen in the Harry Potter series, only my own plot! J

And a special thank you for my reviewer!

Chapter 4 – Spare time

The day after potions, most of the 6th year had a day off so the first years could get to know their timetable and professors. Lily and her friends were contemplating what to do with their day, even though Lily knew what she'd rather be doing – studying. Whilst chatting amongst themselves, they could hear the laugh of Sirius Black across the common room, where the Marauders were talking with a group of fourth year girls fawning over them.

"I think I'd better go over and check Sirius isn't endangered" Cassie said with a cheeky smile across her face,

Figgy shook her head, "I think he can handle himself Cas".

"Well I'm going over" Lily said standing up. Figgy and Cassie looked confused, Lily wasn't the type to walk up to a group of lads , she was normally the one stopping her friends.

"Why? I tho-" Cassie started.

"If you think I can study with that level of noise - besides I need to start on that Potions theory for Professor Slughorn." And with that Lily marched straight over to them.

James saw her coming towards them and chuckled to himself as he knew they were about to receive a 'Lily lecture'. Though he knew she hated him, he couldn't help but enjoy the heated arguments and discussions they had. He was lost in thought when he heard her.

"Could you please keep the noise down, I'm trying to do my Ancient Runes homework and all I can hear is you lot and those stupid girls" Lily said with an angry glare in her eyes.

"Not jealous are you Evans?" James said.

"Yeah because you and your friends are welcome to join us" Sirius commented suggestively.

"We wouldn't trouble ourselves of putting energy into sitting down next to any of you" But as Lily said this Cassie came over and sat right in the middle of James and Sirius, and upon Lily glaring at her, Cassie said

"Well they did offer"

Lily was about to walk away when Remus spoke "um Lily"

Lily turned to hear what he was about to say "we need to arrange the Halloween Ball, can we speak at six in the library"

Cassie and Figgy gave each other a knowing stare.

"yeah sure" She gave him a smile before saying "I don't think it's a great idea if we work together on our Potions theory Potter, perhaps we better do it alone"

James looked a little shocked "But Sluggy said, we had to work together"

Lily knew he was right but she couldn't imagine spending time alone with him, she did her best to avoid him.

"Well – um I'll be in the library working on it at about 7, after Remus and I have spoken if you want to work there, but if you don't show I'll presume you're working by yourself. Anyway I've got to go and finish my work." Lily walked away knowing that James would never set foot in the library, so she was quite happy.

"Well, it looks like Moony's got a crush" Sirius laughed.

"Yeah I saw the smile you gave her Remus" Cassie had joined in. In fact they all had except James.

He felt slightly uneasy, "Moony you don't like Evans do you?"

Remus, though slightly red from all the teasing said "No, Lily and I are just good friends"

Figgy and Cassie looked slightly disappointed, "Shame because she might like you" Figgy added.

"Well she doesn't we're only friends, you can all talk about Padfoot and Cassie now, I'm gonna make some plans for my meeting later"

Remus left, and while Cassie, Figgy. Sirius and Peter were reading some daft article in the daily prophet, James was sat wondering. He wanted to know why he had a problem with Remus and Lily. Why should he care if they become an item? Then a horrible thought came into his head - Did he like Lily? He shook his head immediately, he was just looking out for his friend – he wouldn't want any of his friends putting up with Evans. But he knew he would be at the library just to prove a point!


	5. The Library

Yay more reviews – thank you. By the way, Happy Valentines Day to everyone, hope you all get loads of cards!

For disclaimer see chapter 4

Chapter 5 – The library

It was quarter to six and Lily had just got all of her notes together for her prefect meeting with Remus. Though she was beginning to feel a little awkward just because Cassie and Figgy had been ridiculing her all afternoon about her supposed 'crush' on him. He was very kind, clever and honest but he just wasn't Lily's type. In fact she had always though Cassie and Remus should hook up just so he could calm her down, but with her attentions turned towards Sirius she doubted anything would happen.

Then her thoughts turned to James; she hoped he wouldn't turn up at the library, she knew she would get nothing done if they were sat bickering all evening which would be inevitable as that was just what they did. Even worse if they started shouting (which they usually did) she could be banned from the library …Permanently. As her mind was wondering about what she would do in her spare time if she was not allowed in the library, she failed to notice her two best friends walk into their dormitory.

"Doesn't Lily look nice for her two hot dates tonight?" Figgy said to Cassie.

Lily scowled at both of them, "I do not have any dates tonight, I am working in the library thank you very much. What are you two up to tonight?"

"Well I'm staying up here doing my Potions theory, while Cassie here has got a hot date of her own!"

Lily rolled her eyes "Please don't tell me that it's with Black"

Cassie beamed, "Yeah I can't wait, I mean it's only a game of wizards chess that we would have played an hour ago if it wasn't for your stupid rules, but anyway I'm so excited and it's so much further than I got with James"

"Well I'm happy if you're happy, but you can do much better than both of them"

"Don't start Lily, let her enjoy herself, she's sixteen, not looking for a marriage partner" Figgy said, "just because you want sensible Remus doesn't mean we don't want a bit of fun"

And with that Figgy and Cassie both roared with laughter, without realising that Lily was beginning to get annoyed with the teasing and constant references to Remus. But she did remind herself that she was going to be late if she didn't get a move on.

"Right I'm off, please stop laughing. Cassie have a good time but be careful" Now Cassie rolled her eyes.

"I'm not six mother"

Lily smiled, "I know I just don't trust the Marauders, especially Black" She gave both her friends a hug before leaving and whilst walking down the corridor she heard Cassie shout

"We want all the details when you get back".

Though she sometimes got annoyed with them, she loved her friends to bits even when they did incessantly bully her. She looked at her watch to see it was just past six but it was better to be fashionably late than really early so she walked into the library, spotted Remus and took a seat.

"You alright?" Lily begun.

"Great thanks apart from the stick I've been getting off of Sirius for meeting you"

"Me too, but they're ones to talk, Sirius and Cassie are meeting tonight"

Remus looked shocked, "he never said, he normally loves to show off"

"Well Cassie was quick to show off; she's been after him since the beginning of the year when she'd gotten over James"

"Maybe he really likes her then – but I didn't know she liked Prongs, no wonder she didn't get any luck she's not his type at all" Remus began reading through his notes when Lily looked up.

"Well, he shouldn't be so fussy, he would be lucky to have her, besides he likes outgoing girls with one thing on their minds, and Cassie's not exactly always thinking about spells and potions so why'd you say she isn't his type?"

"I dunno, she just isn't. Anyway, I was thinking for Halloween, how about just a party in the Gryffindor Common room?"

"Yeah that's a much better suggestion than a ball because we've got the Christmas dance straight after. And a party would mean all of the years could get involve" Lily began to get excited.

"Well, yeah that's what I thought but what about costumes?" Remus asked

"Well what about muggle attire?"

"Yeah that's a good idea" Remus answered enthusiastically.

And so it went on for planning decorations, food, and music and so on. Before they knew it, the clock had struck seven and Remus had to go. Lily put her quill down before getting her Potions notes out thanking God that James hadn't shown up to ruin her train of thought.

But then as she wrote the title on her parchment with her quill, she looked up to see James walk through the door and upon seeing him, she knew why he was late. He was dressed in his Quidditch uniform and as Captain of the Gryffindor team, he had to go to each meeting. He walked over to Lily with a grin on his face knowing that she wasn't expecting him to turn up. Many girls from other years were staring at James as he walked in, and even Lily had to admit that James did look good in his Quidditch robes; however that didn't mean his personality was anymore appealing because of it.

"Remus gone?" James asked as he took a seat directly opposite her.

"Yep, about five minute ago" Lily answered. James got his books out and began scribbling away. There was silence for a couple of minutes until Lily paused.

"You're not struggling again are you Evans?" James asked looking up at her, grinning.

She glared at him. "No I'm not. I'm allowed to think aren't I?"

He didn't really know what to say to that but messed up his hair, as he usually did after Quidditch and continued writing.

"Did you know Cassie and Padfoot were off out tonight?" James said, wanting to initiate conversation.

Lily took a deep breath having to put down her quill to talk to him again.

"Well I'd hardly call it out, they're only playing a few games of Wizards chess"

"Doesn't that break your rules Evans, I dearly hope you're not having one set of rules for your friends and another set for the rest of the Gryffindors as I think that is what they call abuse of power"

"No, of course not, that's only till six, but if I'd known they'd start dating, I should have prolonged it all evening"

"That's a little selfish; you should be pleased for your friend"

"I am, it's just that I think she could do a lot better that Sirius, he'll just use her to get what he wants and then move on. Then I'll be there picking up the pieces" Lily started getting mad. She knew they would end up in an argument.

"Well he might really like her, give him a chance. Or are you just jealous?"

Now Lily was in a rage, "Jealous? What because I want to be on a date with Sirius, please I thought you said you had brains"

"No, just of the date in general. You put all your effort into your studies. I mean even Wormtail gets more dates than you, perhaps you feel left out" he suggested.

"I don't think that is any of your business actually. Just because you swan around thinking snogging is what life is about doesn't mean we all do." She began to collect her things and put them in her bag as visions of her being banned from the library were haunting her.

"I think I'm just gonna go, it was silly to assume we might get along for even a half an hour."

James, looking very guilty after realising that perhaps Lily was self conscious about this choice of topic, grabbed her hand as she stood up his eyes pleading with hers to listen to what he was about to say.

"Look Evans I-"

She pulled away, "I've got stuff to do, um I'll see you in Potions tomorrow". And for the first time in his life, he felt empathy for Lily, something which he never thought was possible. He knew he'd gone that step too far.


	6. Avoidance and Partying

Disclaimer – unfortunately, J K Rowling owns the Harry Potter series, not I. Though sometimes I do wonder what would happen if I make a time travel machine and pretend I wrote them. But anyway ……

Thank you again to all of my reviewers – love you all and I just wanted to enforce that this is not a Lily-Remus fic. He's just a foil at the minute! I hope you like this new chapter!

Chapter 6 – Avoidance and Partying

It was a cold winters day where it had been snowing all night, and most of the Gryffindors were sitting in the common room with a warm fire. Lily was with her two best friends reading; but while she was reading the words, none of them had gone in. She was still thinking about her argument she had with James yesterday – what right had he to talk to her like that, he barely knew her.

Anyway she had spent the whole day avoiding him, she went to Potions early that morning so she could get front row, knowing full well that the Marauders sat at the back of the classroom, like she did usually with her friends. Lily's thoughts wondered about whether she should get a date that evening for the Halloween Party. She wanted to prove a point yet she wondered why she should give James the satisfaction of his knowing that his words got to her.

But they did. Her friends had noticed that she was quiet; she didn't even ask Cassie how her date went with Sirius and after them questioning her on whether she enjoyed herself at the library, she frowned and went straight to bed.

Meanwhile, James was also in the Common Room planning some pranks with his friends to play on the Slytherins. He seemed to have forgotten his conversation with Lily. He knew he had upset her but girls were funny like that. But then he looked over to her – reading as usual but she looked sad. He wondered whether it was just a sad book or whether it was what he had said. She looked up and he smiled, but she scowled and turned her head away. _Oh well, back to these pranks_

Later that afternoon, the two prefects, Lily and Remus had to decorate the common room for the party while everyone else was out in the snow. They pinned up banners, bewitched the furniture into skulls and coffins and by five o clock, the room was looking quite good.

"We're missing one thing" Lily said

"And what's that? I think we've got everything covered"

"Cobwebs!" and with that Lily took out her wand and put cobwebs all over the room.

Remus looked very impressed. He was about to ask Lily whether she wanted to go and join in with the snowball fight when she began speaking.

"Well, thanks for your help – I have got to go and get ready now. My date won't be long."

"I didn't know you were bringing anyone"

Lily blushed, " Um yeah, Joseph Bones asked me to go, obviously he wanted to take Amelia but he isn't allowed as she's in Hufflepuff so I said yes"

"Well I'll see you at the party then, I'm going out to find the others, probably with Madam Pomfrey with the flu or something".

They laughed as they separated. Lily went straight upstairs. She was extremely nervous, it wasn't a proper date but she was still shaking, wondering what to wear.

Outside Cassie and Sirius were having a fight; clearly their date did not go well. But Remus came out and saw what was happening.

"You lot calm down or I'll have to deduct points. You two not getting ready?" he said to Cassie and Figgy. "Lily's already upstairs, getting prepared for her date"

James turned his head, "What, Evans has got a date?"

"Yeah, Joseph Bones" Figgy said, "He asked Cas first but she turned him down so then he asked Lily"

"I thought he was seeing Amelia?" Peter asked.

Cassie spoke, "Yeah Lily knows that, she just said something about not wanting to go alone when we've both got dates"

"You've got a date?" Sirius asked Cassie

"Well as you were busy on our date eyeing up other girls, I got another date. Frank Longbottom asked me.

Both Sirius and Peter burst out laughing. And while Cassie and Figgy were shouting at them, no one noticed that James had disappeared.

He ran up to the Gryffindor common room and though he knew he shouldn't, ran up to the girl's dormitories. He stopped at Lily's and knocked three times. Lily answered, her red hair in rollers and she was dressed in her pyjamas.

"What?" She only let the door open a couple of inches.

"I heard about your date." James said looking sheepish.

"So", Lily felt herself going red.

"Well I just wanted to make sure you didn't get a date cause of what I said. I didn't mean to offend you, it was just an observation"

"Well no it's nothing to do with you, he asked, I said yes. You're just as arrogant as I thought thinking my actions revolves around you".

James was about to retort when she shut the door. He decided to go and get ready, he had tried to make amends but she clearly wasn't interested. He would enjoy the party and have fun.

Everyone who began arriving in the Gryffindor common room later that evening were dazzled with the decorations; everything looked great and everyone looked amazing in their Muggle clothes.

Cassie and Sirius both looked fantastic as usual but they seemed to of ignored their dates as they fought with each other.

"No, you were the one who wasn't paying attention on our date"

"Well maybe its better this way, I don't want to be stuck with a paranoid date"

And it continued like that for the rest of the evening. Figgy and her date were dancing quite strangely in the middle of the dance floor to what seemed to be Figgy's favourite song. While Lily was sitting on the sofa with her date Joseph which was actually shaped as a coffin thanks to her and Remus's handiwork this morning.

"So thanks for coming with me tonight Lily. I um would have been left like a right prat otherwise with my friends having dates and Amelia not being here"

Lily took a sip of her butterbeer "Well thank you for asking me. I'm sure I'm not as good company as Amelia, but you're right it's better than being alone"

Joseph smiled at her, "Exactly. I was surprised you agreed to come with me actually. You don't seem to be one who dates that much"

Lily squirmed, "Yeah well I have a lot of studying to do and that". Joseph shrugged and they engaged into a conversation about Ancient Runes one that Lily had been fascinated with if she wasn't thinking of something else.

As Joseph had asked her about her dating habits, James's words echoed back to her – it was not just him that had noticed then. Yet she wondered how she could be so angry at him for asking her about it but so calm when Joseph had asked her. She thought that maybe it was because James had asked her in an accusatory manner. _Yes that must be it._

She turned her thoughts back to what Joseph was saying about Ancient Runes and heard that he had made a joke, she politely laughed as she thought that he was actually a good guy and it wasn't fair to ignore him when he felt as nervous and she had done earlier that evening.

But while they were laughing, whilst with Peter and Remus drinking spiked butterbeer, James turned round and saw them. He wondered why Joseph would want to take Lily to this party. Was he going to take advantage while Amelia was not looking? It would certainly be a conquest to brag about if he snogged Lily Evans – Gryffindor Prefect, possibly one of the most straight-laced, innocent girls in the school. Yet he had been watching all night and Joseph had not tried anything. He was being friendly and that was it.

He then thought why he should care if Lily was treated badly. They were not exactly friends, she was always shouting at him for something but then he thought he didn't like any girl to be treated badly by a lad. But that wasn't true either – what about Rachael for the past two years? She had really liked him and he just used her for quick snogging sessions, but he wasn't the only one – Sirius did the same thing.

Thinking of Sirius, he looked around and saw that he had stopped arguing with Cassie and decided to flirt with some other girls in the year below. James smiled, it was probably a way of making Cassie jealous and it seemed to be working as she was sitting on her own with her arms crossed apparently having ditched Frank.

He looked over again at Lily who was now sitting a lot closer to Joseph than she had before – they were talking and laughing a lot more also. He felt a sharp feeling in his stomach. He looked away and then back at Lily again and the pain returned. Perhaps he liked Evans? He certainly liked winding her up and making her angry. He had seemed to care when she had got a date and he had taken an immediate dislike to Joseph of whom hadn't done anything wrong. He then thought better of it – he couldn't like Evans.

He decided to go over and talk to Cassie who looked quite upset.

"You alright Cas?"

She smiled "Fine, just gonna go up to bed I think"

"What – you can't leave the party early – you'll be a social outcast" He grinned and she smiled a little. "Seriously you don't want him to know that he's got to you, do you?"

"I suppose not – a complete turn around though. It's usually Figgy and Lily on their own wanting to go to bed but they both look happy tonight"

James cringed "Same here, I'm usually chatting to some girls, planning some dates, like Sirius is now (Cassie scowled) but I just don't feel up to it tonight"

"Well I saw Rachael earlier looking for you" Cassie said with a smirk, knowing how mad and attached she was for James Potter.

His face fell "Oh well, I'll find her tomorrow" They both continued talking and drinking (James had introduced her to his spiked butterbeer) until Remus and Lily were making everyone leave so they could clean up for tomorrow. The room began to look a little more empty as everyone left.

Lily and Remus began tidying as James walked up to Lily.

"You need any help Evans? Cause me and Cas wouldn't mind helping would we?"

"No not at all Lils" Cassie replied.

"Thanks"

Lily began putting the cups into a black bag when she stopped

"Um Potter, you wouldn't know anything about the spiked butterbeer would you?" with an all knowing smile. She appeared to be talking to him without raising her voice. This was a new experience for him – perhaps her date had gone well.

"I have no idea what you're talking about"

"I thought you wouldn't somehow" Lily smirked.

He smiled and his thoughts wondered to what he was thinking about earlier. Maybe he did like her; why else would he agree to help her magic free?

"Evans?"

"What" She looked up, not knowing exactly what to expect.

"How was your date?"

"It wasn't really a date – but it was good thanks. How about you? Get the hundred numbers like you usually do?"

"Um no, busy cheering her up actually" He pointed to Cassie "You might wanna take her up to the dorm she's really upset about Sirius and I don't know how but she managed to drink some of that spiked butterbeer you were talking about"

Lily sighed "Well it might have done her some good. She really likes Sirius even more so than when she like you last year."

"What, you warned her against me I guess, so then she fell for Sirius and you're still unhappy with her choice"

"Something like that"

He was about to reply when he heard a girls voice "James, I've been looking for you everywhere, wanna go for a walk"

It was Rachael – very pretty, very nice but just a little too attached to him than he liked. He preferred dates where there was no obligation for another. But this girl didn't seem to understand this.

"Maybe another day Rach, I've got to clean up" Her face fell.

"It's ok Potter, I've got it from here – I've got to sort Cassie out anyway." Lily rolled her eyes. She knew he used Rachael awfully and that she really liked him. Made her feel sorry for the girl and raised more hatred for James. But she did think it was good of him helping Cassie and cleaning up but she knew they'd probably be a selfish reason behind it perhaps he might have feelings for Cassie. This seemed a reasonable explanation – he had spent all evening with her and tried to cheer her up. She'd have to tell her in the morning to lift her ego a little.

Meanwhile James was mad with Rachael for ruining his time alone with Lily. He was enjoying her being nice to him. Well as nice as Evans had ever been, probably it was because she had had a good time with Joseph. But he knew he'd rather be talking with Lily than spending time with Rachael in the broom cupboard.


	7. James's Realisation

Disclaimer – I don't own anything you may recognise from J K Rowling's books (Unfortunately)

Another big hug for all my reviewers and readers!

Chapter 7 – James's realisation

"Aaaarrrghhh". Cassie had just walked out of the bathroom, her hands to her head, in her pyjamas looking very pale.

Lily and Figgy burst out laughing.

"It serves you right" Lily said with a smirk across her face. Cassie looked to Figgy for support.

"Really is Cas, you drank loads last night – good job we ain't got lessons today". Cassie scowled.

"You call yourselves best friends" and she ran back to the bathroom.

Figgy shouted over to her, "you see Sirius with all those other girls last night Cas" Cassie popped her head out of the bathroom.

"I vaguely remember, but they are merely an obstacle I can overcome" She grinned.

Lily spoke up, "You sure you're gonna still pursue him cause I know a different lad who likes you. I mean he isn't much better than Sirius but if you're that desperate"

Figgy laughed, "Who?" she asked inquisitively.

Lily looked over from her book, "Potter"

"No way" Figgy looked shocked.

Cassie had now joined them on Lily's bed, "Don't be silly, he wouldn't do that to Sirius"

Lily sighed, "It's not as if you and Sirius were long term, besides why did he help you last night – he made sure you weren't alone and that you got back to the dorm ok"

"Quite ironic that he likes you now, after you're over him" Figgy said

"Well I don't care. I've already said Sirius and I are meant to be" and with that she threw a pillow over at Lily and Figgy and returned back into the bathroom.

Meanwhile, in the Marauders dormitory, Sirius, Remus and Peter were playing wizards chess. They all looked shocking from the night before, it seemed as if they too had consumed far too much firewhisky. Sirius and Peter were enraptured in their game when their concentration was lost upon the arrival of James who looked just as bad as the rest of them.

"Prongs! Where did you get off to last night? I didn't hear you come in." Sirius smirked.

James looked a little sheepish, "I was with Rachael". He sighed.

"What's the problem, she's hot", He made a move on the board to find one of Peter's pieces smashed before him. "Yes".

Remus spoke, "Well I believe Prongs has fallen for someone else"

James was extremely defensive, "No" he said quickly

"No?" Remus replied, "I saw you with Cassie last night"

Sirius turned, "This right Prongs? Cause I might just have a problem with that"

James looked Sirius in the eye, "Course not, I just felt sorry for her – I'm just fed up with Rachael and she keeps hassling me – she came to find me this morning to ask if I wanted breakfast with her!"

Peter joined in with the conversation, "that didn't bother you all last year"

"I know . . . anyway Padfoot, how many numbers did you get last night?"

"A few – I might hook up with Cassie again this weekend though – might have to apologise first though" Sirius pondered.

"Yep" Remus said, "She seems mad with you"

"Well Moony, maybe you should invite Lily and we can double date- Cassie is more likely to agree that way" Sirius suggested with a hopeful expression on his face.

"No, you can all stop it now, I've told you, Lily and I are friends and Prefects and that is it. Nor do I have any desire to ask her out on a date whether it be for you or me" Remus replied quite adamantly.

"You sure you don't like her Moony" James said "You have an awful lot in common and you spend a lot of time together" He seemed annoyed at the choice of topic.

"So – you spend a lot of time with Cassie on the Quidditch field. You spend a lot of time with Rachael in the broom cupboard. It doesn't mean you like them in a more-than-friend way" Remus said rather haughtily.

"Spose so" James shrugged his shoulders.

"What's wrong with you mate?" Sirius asked James as he cleared the chessboard having just won for the fourth time.

"I don't know I might just go out on the Quidditch field and release some steam."

He collected his broom and headed towards the Quidditch pitch - The Gryffindor corridors were empty; it must have been the party last night. He made a few circles of the pitch, loving the fact that he had it to himself and that all his thoughts had disappeared. And then this was all ruined by the shouting of his name from below.

"POTTER" someone shouted. As he flew down, he saw Evans there.

"You alright Evans"

"I was just on my way to the library and I saw you flying – just wanted to say thanks for taking care of Cassie and helping me clean up" Lily began.

James was pleased, she was being nice again, "You're welc-" but apparently she wasn't finished

"But if you dare supply her with firewhiskey again or anyone else for that matter, I'll have you sent to McGonagall's office quicker than you can say transfiguration. 10 points from Gryffindor"

She was about to leave when he said, "Where's your proof Evans?"

Without turning she replied "Cassie confirmed what I already suspected. She's very ill because of it."

James lowered his head, feeling slightly guilty – she hadn't actually asked for the drink, "Tell her I'm sorry, and obviously an apology for you is in order for taking liberties in your presence"

Lily snorted, believing James was making fun of her so she turned away. She had said all that she had wanted to. James shouted over her

"Would you like me to walk you to the library Evans? I'm going back that way"

"I think I'm capable of finding my own way there thank you Potter"

And with that Lily made her way east towards her favourite place in the school. James was just in position to fly again when someone else came from out of the shadows. It was Remus.

"You coming back Prongs?" Remus asked.

"Yeah, think I could do with a rest" He walked over "Double Potions in the morning, then Divination – don't think I'm going to cope"

"Well that argument with Lily must have taken it out of you!"

James laughed, "Argument? That's a normal conversation for us mate" He picked up his broom and they headed back to the Gryffindor common room.

It was quite quiet when Remus suddenly, unexpectedly asked, "Do you like her, and is that what is bothering you? I got it wrong with Cassie didn't I?"

James stopped and turned, he burst out laughing, "Evans? You must be having a laugh – I'd rather go out with Rachael for a month. What made you come up with this rather out-there idea Moony?"

"I um noticed you looked a little off when we spoke about Lily and you enjoy getting her mad and you helped us tidy up last night which is completely out of character"

"Hey" James said

"Well it is, but I must have got the wrong end of the stick, yet again – I will find out what is bothering you though"

"Probably just a hangover" he smiled, "but absolutely one hundred percent nothing to do with Evans"

They had walked into the common room, engaging in everyday talk. James had lied to his friend; all he had been thinking about is whether he had acquired feelings for Lily over the past couple of weeks. He always came to the conclusion that he couldn't like her – she was not really his type. He usually went for girls who didn't require much of a challenge, girls like Rachael.

But recently, he had begun to wonder why Lily disliked him so much – there were the pranks but there seemed to be something else he couldn't seem to grasp. Then it clicked. He hadn't necessarily had feeling for, he just realised that she intrigued him; he wanted to find out more about her and this explained why he enjoyed the arguments that they had and why he went out of his way to annoy her.

Remus turned to him, "Are you listening to a single thing I am saying?"

"Not really", He grinned, "You were probably boring me"

"Well may I ask what was so interesting that you had to deter from listening to my interesting story?"

"You may ask" Remus gave him one of his 'prefect' looks that he saved especially for first years that tried to sneak off at night. James thought he should tell his friend the truth, after all Remus was supposed to be the understanding one of the four.

"I was actually thinking about what you asked me about earlier", he looked down at a copy of the Daily Prophet not wanting to take this conversation much further.

Remus, however didn't get the point of James wanting to forget what he had just said, "You mean about Lily or Cassie?"

"Lily, I mean I don't think I like her but I sort of want to get to know her, I think she's interesting, sort of fiery and different"

Remus laughed, so much for being the sensitive Marauder, "You want to get to know a girl? You must like her"

"Forget it" James tried to become absorbed in the paper again, looking slightly angry with his friend.

"No, sorry mate, it was just that you haven't really spoke like this about a girl before"

James sighed, well if he had to talk about it, "I know, this is why I'm so confused. I'm not gonna decide anything until I get to know her better. Just don't tell Peter or Sirius yet."

"Course not Prongs".


	8. Distress and Pranks Gone Wrong

Please read and review – any positive or negative criticism welcomed (just please don't be too harsh)

Disclaimer – I don't own any characters or plot you may recognise from Harry Potter (I have checked, but I don't own any of it)

Chapter 8 – Distress and Pranks gone wrong

Ever since James had admitted to Remus that it was possible that he might have feelings for Lily, he hadn't had chance to talk to her to find out whether he could confirm these feelings. Though Remus had been quick to wind him up about it, especially in front of the other Marauders.

However after a strenuous awful lesson of double Potions, he finally had a reason to talk to her without her suspecting anything unusual. The theory they were both working on was given back to them but Lily had collected it. So after the lesson he had left his friends and chased after Lily.

"Evans – wait up" he shouted slightly out of breath. She was with Figgy and Cassie as usual heading to the Gryffindor Common room but they were soon to split as out of the three of them, only Figgy took Divination. Cassie and Lily had taken a dislike to it ever since their third year when they were both destined to die in a birds nest!

Lily realised who it was calling her and turned round. "What, here to try and sell us some firewhiskey?" she said with a frown.

"I was just curious about our grade on the Potions assignment."

"Oh, we got an E", she replied.

"Well that's pretty good" He looked to her for confirmation.

"Yeah", she said shortly – she hated to admit anything she did with James worked out well so she returned back to her friends in the direction of the Common room. He knew he would have to do better than that.

Whilst James, Remus, Figgy and Peter went to Divination, Lily and Cassie were left alone, chatting.

"So do you think you and Sirius will be back on?" Lily asked inquisitively..

"I thought you weren't interested in this stuff" Cassie said with a smile.

"Well you've converted me" she replied with a laugh.

"What about you, anyone caught your attentions? A certain Remus or Joseph? If it's Joseph I'll help you plot to get rid of Amelia!"

Lily laughed, "No, it was just a convenient date for the party and that's all, we did had fun though! And as for Remus, how many times do I have to say it?"

"Never again I prom – Lils laugh quickly". Lily did as she was told, feeling a little puzzled but then realised that it was to impress Sirius who had just walked into the Common Room.

He had his arms stretched out as if hoping for a hug, "Well if it isn't the light of my life, my reason for living, the one person who makes my heart beat ten to a dozen" Sirius said dramatically.

"What do you want Black?" Cassie asked moodily.

"Why, I wanted to take you for a walk around the castle in the snow. I thought it would be romantic!"

"What about all those other girls' numbers you got at that party? Can't you ask one of them?"

Sirius raised his eyebrows, "And what about you hanging out with James, my best friend all night?"

"Don't be so pathetic." She stood up and walked towards her room.

Sirius shouted, "Where are you going, I'm not finished."

"I'm getting my coat for this walk" She shouted back.

Sirius looked confused. "So you're coming then?"

"I said so didn't I? Stupid Toad"

"I heard that"

"GOOD"

They both walked out continuing the argument. Lily began reading her book, laughing about Cassie and Sirius wondering how they could like each other so much but still argue like cat and dog. Still, she was pleased for her friend, Lily knew she really liked Sirius even more so than when she had liked James for the past couple of years.

As her thoughts wondered to James Potter, he walked through the door where it was just them two. The Gryffindor Common room had never been so empty for as long as Lily had been in Hogwarts.

James looked around also noticing that it was just Lily and himself. It was the perfect opportunity to speak to her without other people interrupting.

Before he had the chance to think of something to say that he hoped would initiate a conversation, she spoke first to his surprise,

"Where is Figgy? She said she was coming straight here after Divination"

"They've had to stay behind for the Professor to mark their assignments, she shouldn't be too long" She nodded and he messed his hair up as he was a little nervous – he had no idea what to say next but he did have an urge to impress her.

She returned to her book when he said, "I've just turned Snape's hair pink"

"You did what?"

For a moment he forgot she was a prefect, but it was the only thing he could think of that seemed to impress other girls. He decided the best course of action would to just be silent.

"You know you're not clever don't you?" Lily said looking disgusted, "Severus wouldn't be that bad if you lot didn't play your stupid pranks and tricks."

"Actually I consider every one of the Marauders to be clever and fascinating in their own way. "

"And arrogant?"

"We're not arrogant, just honest and we're realists" James said with a smile. There was a silence before James spoke again. "Listen, do you want go for a walk? Just for ten minutes cause I've got Quidditch practice" He asked hopefully.

Lily looked up from her book, "Even Sirius gave Cassie a more tempting offer of a walk around the castle"

"So is that a yes or no"

"A no, I want to finish this book"

James walked away not really knowing what to say and not really wanting to get her even more mad. He pondered as to whether he should tell Sirius about how he was feeling as then he might be able to help him persuade Lily to actually talk to him. He pushed this thought away immediately; Sirius would either, laugh, tell Cassie or even worse tell Lily, embarrassing her in front of all the Gryffindor students.

He did find it really unfair that Lily wouldn't even have a conversation with him – he was trying, trying more than he had to with any girl. He saw Rachael in the distance and decided to go and talk to her; his ego needed a lift. But he did decide that he would have to do something major that would impress Lily.

Meanwhile, in the Gryffindor common room Lily was sitting, wondering what sudden interest James had got by talking to her. He had certainly been behaving differently recently. This train of thought was soon interrupted by Sirius, Remus, Peter and Figgy who had just walked in.

Sirius looked stressed, "I have had to part on the Quidditch pitch with Cassie, yet the captain's favourites are allowed to stay" He said sulkily.

Remus looked puzzled, "What do you mean? James's favourites?"

"No other than Rachael in the stands looking stupid clapping every time James says or does anything but I'm not allowed to stay"

"I feel so sorry for that girl – he uses her awfully" Lily said compassionately.

"I know! I feel so proud" Sirius said.

"Come on Lily lets get our books for transfiguration" Figgy said also looking disgusted at the boys.

Professor McGonagall was not in a good mood that afternoon as it seemed as if Peeves had been making himself a nuisance all day. She had a stern look on her face. They all knew they would have to be on their best behaviour or point deduction and detentions would follow.

The lesson started well with the students set the task of transfiguring a plant pot into a lamp which seemed to be trickier that it sounded. So far, the only two that had managed to achieve this was James and Remus who looked quite pleased with themselves.

James was now rather bored as had to apply the practical into theory which meant he had to write everything down. He saw Remus scribbling away with his quill, he then peered to see Lily – she had also finished attempting her spell. She wasn't the last to get it right but it did take her a while. She too was busy writing her theory when he whispered and pointed his wand,

"Lergify" and Lily's quill spilled all over her parchment and it wouldn't stop. He could see her struggle as she tried to make sure it wouldn't get on the table. He laughed, congratulating himself on his fine prank and spell work. However Professor McGonagall did not seem too pleased. She had heard the parchment rustle around the table as Lily was panicking.

"Miss Evans, will you stop making that racket, some of us are trying to work" She did not look amused.

Lily, however looked a little frightened, she was rarely singled out in class as a trouble maker, "Sorry Professor, my quill is leaking and it won't stop"

"Well either you stop buying products from zonko's joke shop that interrupts my lesson or you test your quills before you arrive. Is that understood?

Lily looked sheepish and nodded. "Yes Professor".

"Well", she looked stern, "5 points from Gryffindor and a detention Friday evening"

Lily looked horrified and James also looked worried. He had not expected the prank to go so far so he decided to speak up – if he defended her, she would be pleased with him, hopefully.

He stood up, "Professor, I think that is a little harsh, I mean it could have been an accident"

She looked fuming now. "POTTER! I do not need your advice on how to punish students in my own classes thank you. You too will join Miss Evans in detention on Friday night at seven thirty. And I suggest you do not speak out of turn again".

Lily gave him a weak smile and although James was pleased that she acknowledged his defensive actions, he knew he would be in trouble when it came to detention and he might have to admit that he was the one that had caused all of this mess.

The whole class was pleased that transfiguration had ended and they all hoped that Professor McGonagall would be in a better mood by their next lesson. Lily had no idea what to expect in detention as she had never had one before. She felt a little ashamed as Prefects were supposed to be upstanding students – still she did know that the whole situation was not her fault. If only she had tested her quill before lesson – she also felt guilty that she had dragged James into the argument. Although it was nice of him to defend her, she did feel as if he ought not to have intervened as his involvement also got him into trouble.

James on the other hand was not bothered about his detention as he often had detentions, but this time he would be sharing the time with Lily. He was pleased that this was the case but then again she hardly gave him the time of day so it was unlikely she would even speak to him during detention.

He walked into his dormitory where his friends were sat.

"Prongsie, I heard you have got your one hundred and fifty sixth detention. Congratulations!" Sirius put another line by his name on a chart that was hanging behind their door.

James glanced at it, "I'm still winning then!" He grinned.

"Only by nine mate, I can easily over take"

Peter spoke up, "What did you do this time?"

"He was defending Lily, weren't you Prongs" Remus smirked

"Yeah, prank went wrong!" James went red and started fiddling with his school bag.

"What you pranked Prefect Evans?" Sirius asked

"Made her quill leak, but McGonagall was being evil. Gave us both detentions"

"Feel sorry for you mate, a whole evening with Evans telling you why you should not play pranks and why it is beneficial to follow the rules." Sirius replied.

"I'm sure you will enjoy spending time with her won't you James" Remus said knowingly.

James did not have to answer as Sirius announced he was going to find Cassie, but he did give Remus a horrible look. He realised it wouldn't be long until his friends guessed, so he either had to be honest or he had to try his hardest in making Lily like him. So he had high hopes for detention after all, he would have to use some of his Potter charm in persuading her he was actually alright!


	9. Detention

Disclaimer – this is only a story based upon J K Rowling's books - if you didn't know they are called Harry Potter.

Another massive thank you to my reviewers – you're the only ones that make me continue!

Chapter 9 – Detention

While it had been a sleepless night for Lily worrying about detention – she only hoped as few people knew as possible, James had awoken after a full ten hours sleep. He sat up and felt rather cold so he closed the window; he was not worried that he had gotten detention; in fact he was rather pleased he had beaten Sirius on their detention score board.

However, he was slightly worried about spending detention with Lily, he knew his friends was right, she would spend the whole evening lecturing him about being a prefect's friend and having influence over the younger years. And heaven forbid, if she ever found out that it was him that had put her there. He might have to forget about telling her that.

James looked around to see that his friends had all woken up and had already gone down to breakfast, so he decided to quickly get dressed and follow them down. Meanwhile, Lily was still in her bed, with her covers wrapped around her, also feeling quite cold. She laughed to herself as she wondered if James had also been worrying about detention. Similarly to James, her friends were already awake – Cassie had followed Sirius to breakfast but Figgy was just looking through her cabinet drawers.

"What are you doing?" mumbled Lily as she sat herself up.

"Just looking for a quill, I seem to have lost the one I was using yesterday" She continued rummaging through her drawers, when she got even more frustrated as she reached the bottom of it.

Lily reached into her top drawer and immediately found one of about twenty quills, "Here have one of mine" She smiled as she wrapped her cover around her and went to sit next to her friend.

"Presumably, Cassie has gone to breakfast with Black?" Lily said disapprovingly.

Figgy smiled, "Yes, where else would she be these days?"

"Well maybe we need to speak to her about the amount of time she spends with him" Lily said this so seriously that it made Figgy laugh.

"Don't be silly, she's happy. Don't tell me you want the moping Cassie we had last year, devastated because James Potter had rejected her advances yet again."

Lily glared at her, "He didn't reject her, as he never had the chance to"

"He did once, at the Christmas party. She was so drunk and she tried to coax him away but he just walked her back to her table"

"Why didn't you tell me this? I hardly believe it, as if Potter would turn a girl down, especially a pretty one offering it on a plate"

"She asked me not to tell you so don't say anything, I think she was embarrassed, but you've got to think a little better of him now. Besides, he did defend you yesterday"

Lily looked thoughtful "Well I've been thinking about that and the only conclusion I have come up with, is that he cast a spell that put me in detention and then guilt ensued which made him defend me – I don't for one minute think he did it to be honourable. And now I have to spend a whole evening with him in detention"

"As if he could feel guilt. And as for tonight just don't talk to him if you hate him that much, just think this time tomorrow, it will all be over." And for the first time that morning, Lily smiled a real smile.

The day had passed by – the sixth year didn't have many lessons, but the ones they did have went fairly quickly. Lily and James had hardly seen each other all day. On Lily's part this had not been accidental, but James had intended to try and speak to her after yesterday – he was hoping she would be a little nicer to him considering he had defended her, but she seemed to vanish every time he saw her.

Later that evening it was an hour away from detention when the Marauders were in their dorm.

"Potter, are you looking forward to an evening with the lovely Evans?" Sirius asked mischievously.

"Ha ha I bet he is" Remus added. James gave him an evil look.

"Not really, just gonna have to endure it best I can" He replied, "How'd your breakfast go with Cassandra?" He said trying to turn the topic around.

"Ok" he looked glum. "She kept moaning at me, telling me how useless I was as I forgot to ask her if she wanted me to walk down to breakfast with me rather than her having to follow me down on her own"

"She has a point mate" Peter said.

Sirius seemed to ignore his friend and carried on as if in the middle of a rant, "And then she went on to say that she wouldn't be surprised if it was us that had gotten Evans into trouble"

Upon the mention of Lily's name, James began to pay attention. Sirius saw the look on his face and giggled.

"It's ok, I kept your secret. But I was thinking about telling her as I would love to see Prongs get yet another Lily-lecture. However I did remember Moony's got to work with her and perhaps may want to engage in a little more than work with her, so I kept quiet"

Remus mischievously smiled "I don't really think it's me that wants to engage in such activities Padfoot" He looked at James.

Sirius laughed loudly and clapped his hands whilst James put his face in his hands "Never, you should have said!"

"Thanks Moony, consider yourself an awful friend." He turned towards Sirius who looked like a young child excited about the news and eager to know more "Well I don't like her a lot like, I'm just intrigued at the moment" James replied absent mindedly.

Remus, Sirius and Peter exchanged knowing looks. Peter spoke, "Intrigued? Since when have you ever been intrigued?"

"Look, I'll go to detention and try and speak and see whether these are real feelings or whether I'm just not used to a girl hating me" he said arrogantly.

And after a further forty minutes of probing and laughing, it was time for James to set off to the transfiguration classroom.

As he arrived, he saw Lily was already there, looking a little uneasy and out of place. He grinned and sat down when Professor McGonagall had also arrived.

"Professor we have to stop meeting during these evening?" James had said cheekily.

Lily rolled her eyes. Professor McGonagall carried on. Despite being rather amused.

"That's enough Potter, well I know I may have been a little harsh in your punishments so you only have to stay for an hour rather than the whole evening. I want two feet of parchment explaining why a teacher and their lessons are to be respected and valued. And Miss Evans, I want the ink on the parchment and not the table this time, is this understood?"

Lily nodded and began.

"Well I suppose I can trust you two to get on, the quicker you finish, the quicker you can go. I shall see you when you hand in your parchment, I'll be in my office"

She left the room and it was silent for about five minutes, Lily was scribbling incredibly fast and James decided this wouldn't be the greatest opportunity to initiate conversation as she had obviously wanted to hurry and leave.

However to James surprise, Lily began the conversation.

"Aren't you going to start writing, you'll be here for hours if not", she had that look in her eyes again, as if she was judging him as though he was a waste of space.

"Yeah I was just collecting my thoughts" He grinned.

"I didn't know you had any to collect" She continued writing and he couldn't decide whether she was being playful or whether she might be angry and was being mean.

He decided to pursue the conversation, "this detention ain't as bad as it seems is it?"

"Well I'd rather be elsewhere, but no it's not the horrific ordeal I had built it up to be" She was continuing writing and James also began to write a little.

James looked up and asked, "Have you seen Joseph since the ball?"

"Have you seen Rachael since the ball?" She smirked.

James retaliated, "Do you care if I've seen Rachael since the ball?"

Lily went red in the face "Why should I care? I was simply exemplifying that you shouldn't pry in one's personal life"

"If you say so, I wouldn't want anyone knowing I liked someone either, if my reputation was as clean as yours" James said hoping an answer might indicate she had feelings for him.

"So, it's your sixth year, and you're still as arrogant as ever. Believe me I would never ever like a lad with such arrogance and self obsession as yours" Lily said.

James was quite taken aback, he knew that she might not fancy him at the minute and that she might not want to be best friends, but she could at least be a little nicer – he had defended her honour.

"I'm not that bad! Anyway, I dunno why we're even talking about the compatibility of us, I'd never go out with a high-strung obsessive compulsive girl like you anyway" Though this was obviously not true, he could not help himself retaliate – she seemed to get him so mad.

Lily, on the other hand had had enough and just wanted to finish the detention so she said, "maybe we should just do this in silence and then we might not fight". Though Lily was being rational and calm, James' words had hurt and like before when they were in the library, it especially stung when he pointed out her faults. This might have been because Lily had known them to be true or perhaps because she thought herself above James.

"Sorry" said James, after about a ten minute silence. "I didn't actually mean those things." Lily had tried to interrupt but he kept on going, "I know you always see me when I am showing off and being horrible to the Slytherins but I'm not as bad as you make out either."

Lily paused, this had come as a shock but then she didn't want to be rude when he had made an effort to be civil.

"Well I suppose you did help me clean up after the party and you helped Cassie"

James pretended to be completely shocked, "was that something positive you just said about one of the Marauders Miss Evans?"

Lily laughed, "hey I was never nasty to Remus"

"I suppose not, so how much have you got left?" he asked.

"I'm just writing the conclusion. Then patrolling and then have got to check Cas is back on her date before lights out"

"So you think they'll last?"

"Um, I dunno – she seems really happy anyway, he bought her a flower the other day, or stole it but she was pleased anyway"

James laughed very loudly "are you joking? He never told us that – I'm gonna have to take him up on that later"

"Yeah, in front of Cassie so he can't get out of it" Her eyes glistened.

"Just what I was thinking, you're nearly as evil as I am"

Lily chuckled, "Not quite, sometimes I don't know how you have the imagination to think up some of your pranks"

"You mean you like some of them?"

She looked awkward, she was prefect after all and had to answer carefully, "I think they're original yes". She had just finished writing her last sentence, so she began to pack her things away.

"Well I'm finished, so I'm gonna go and patrol. Um I'll see you later"

James leapt to his feet – he had sort of finished his, "Well we can't have pretty young vulnerable girls walking the corridors by themselves, would you like me to escort you?"

"No, I'm quite capable thank you – but I'll see you tomorrow sometime"

"See you Evans"

She walked out and James sank back into his chair – well it was confirmed, he definitely liked her and as usual they had fought but a little differently had got on during the final half of the detention. She hadn't let him patrol with her but she might have been a bit uncomfortable with that idea if people had seen them. Yet it did give him hope that he might have a chance – he would see her tomorrow and he'd make sure that they were speaking as if they were friends again. He knew he'd have to switch tactics, he wouldn't be arrogant, and he wouldn't speak about her love life or wind her up. But he was content with the fact that she hadn't completely ignored him that evening. And instead of finishing his work, he carved the initials L.E into the snitch he had in his pocket.


	10. Preparation for the Christmas Ball

Disclaimer – I only own the story, none of the characters :-(

If you enjoy the chapter (or not as the case may be) please review to leave me feedback as to what you like and dislike about it so I can take your advice into account for the next chapter. Thank you.

Chapter 10 – Preparation for the Christmas Ball

It had been an extremely cold November and the only thing keeping all fifth, sixth and seventh years going was thoughts of the Christmas Ball – the highlight of the year. Last years Ball had been so spectacular (largely due to Lily and Remus's input and help) that this year, it not only had to be equally successful but there were hopes of it being even better.

James Potter, in particular was looking forward to it – he and Sirius had spent the entirety of it last year without a partner as they found it easier and more fun to pick up girls without dates as they were more eager to have fun. They preferred this easy option compared with the hassle of finding one girl, asking her, and then having to spend the whole evening applying all attention solely to them.

He had fond memories, even though Sirius had beaten him in dancing with six more girls than he did. He then sighed. He knew that this year, Sirius was going to ask Cassie, as he seemed quite besotted and it just wasn't the same as going with Remus and Peter. Remus because he likes to value a girls company and pay complete attention to her, and Peter because he was absolutely useless with girls – the only dates he had were merely because of his association with the rest of the Marauders.

Most of the jobs to do with the Christmas Ball had fallen to Lily and Remus partly due to their amazing success last year, but also because the seventh years were so busy preparing for the NEWTS. While he had begun to think of Lily, he couldn't help but smile knowing that it had been a week since detention when they were on speaking terms. They hadn't really spent a lot of time together but it was definitely a step in the right direction. Even more astounding than that, it had been a week since Sirius had known about his crush and the information had not even reached Cassie yet which was an achievement in itself.

While lost in thought, he felt a smack on his back,

"Prongsie my boy, how are we today?" Sirius said, looking very cheerful.

"Alright, just finishing this Defence Against the Dark Arts off" James responded putting his parchment down.

"And daydreaming about a certain Prefect?" he said knowingly.

"I don't think about Moony that way" James said smirking.

"Very funny, well I was going to finalise plans with Cassie who I know is helping Miss Evans decorate the Great Hall if you wanted to join me as an excuse to talk to her"

James wondered if he should, knowing that she might want to get on, but then again he could offer assistance.

"Sure, why not. Though I'm not too happy about you getting a date for the Ball, what about our ritual?"

Sirius laughed, "I know mate, never thought I'd be the type to settle – always thought you'd be first"

"Soon she'll start talking about a wedding and having a family" And upon the horrified look on Sirius's face, James began walking in the direction of the Great Hall. However Sirius couldn't stop talking about how serious Cassie thought they were.

"So do you think I should go alone to the Ball just to prove a point that we aren't too committed then?"

James laughed, "Do what you want – you should go with her though, or you will only get nagged at for a month after"

They had just walked into the Great Hall so Sirius began whispering as Cassie was in the right hand corner pinning banners to the wall with Figgy and could have been in hearing distance.

"What if I gave a legitimate reason? I could twist my ankle and then not be able to dance and then suggest it would be better if she had another partner – that way I would be a kind partner also" He waited for a response from James but he got nothing.

"Prongs" He loudly whispered wanting an answer.

James looked a little befuddled, "uh yeah you could do".

Sirius looked around and finally understood why James' behaviour had suddenly changed. There on the other side of the Great Hall was Remus and Lily messing around with the decorations. She had wrapped a really long banner around him so he couldn't move and then Lily pushed her head into his shoulder because she couldn't stop laughing so hard. It was clear James looked a little envious of their fun as he couldn't stop staring at them.

Sirius, not known as the observant one had actually noticed this.

"Don't worry mate, they have to work together, they're Prefects"

"Yeah I know it's just -" He stopped, not really knowing what he had a problem with.

"Suddenly Remus and Lily both turned around hearing Cassie shout Sirius over. James followed him debating whether to leave or not. As he passed Remus, he just nodded his head coldly and upon seeing a guilty look on Remus' face, knew that the message had hit home.

As James, Sirius, Cassie and Figgy were talking, Remus unwrapped himself and walked over hoping that he hadn't upset his friend too much.

"So you're definitely gonna show up" Cassie told Sirius making eye contact "Because if you don't…"

"I'll be there, I said" Sirius said, getting slightly annoyed now.

"Well I had better get a corsage, then I can keep it, and then show our kids when they grow up."

James shot Sirius an 'I told you so' look, just as Cassie and Lily burst out laughing.

"I was only joking" She said through the laughter.

They took about a ten minute break when Lily began to get into work focus again,

"Remus, are you coming to finish off the centre?" She asked

He looked at James who looked away, "Um sure, can I just have a quick word with James outside, and I'll be there in a second"

"Sure" She said whilst walking over to her area.

James followed Remus nonchalantly until they reached outside.

Remus began talking in quite an accusatory tone. "What's your problem?"

James looked as though Remus was from another planet, "You should know" He folded his arms.

"Well I can hazard a guess at it being because Lily and I were working together"

James shrugged, "You weren't just working with her though. You knew I liked her and you're making moves on her yourself. If you liked her you should have just said and I would have stepped aside rather than you being sneaky and underhand about it. I always knew you had a thing for her" He finished ranting taking a breath.

Remus looked quite hurt, "We're friends and that is it. You haven't even been out on a date yet and you are already acting as if you own her. Why isn't she allowed any fun?"

"Don't give me that – just admit you like her and you betrayed a friend" Said James, his temper getting the better of him.

"It's nothing like that and if you don't believe me, go in – ask her yourself, admit you like her." James' face was vacant "No I thought not, never thought I'd see the day when James Potter became the coward Peter is".

James got lost in his thought, "I can't, she doesn't like me like she likes you – I'm sure if you went in and told her you liked her, she'd welcome you with open arms"

Rmeus nodded knowingly, "So that is what all this is about – you're just jealous cause you don't know Lily like I do"

He nodded slowly, "I suppose so" He paused for a moment, "Sorry mate I should have known you wouldn't have gone behind my back. But just to get things straight once and for all – you don't like her?"

"No, she's just a good friend. Look why don't you take my place? Say I felt ill and suggested you help instead. Go and get to know her"

James smiled, "You sure?"

"Yeah, course" and Remus went back to the dormitory as James shouted "Thanks Moony"

As James walked in, Sirius caught his eye, suspecting what had gone on between those two but as James smiled at him as a way of letting him know everything was ok, he went back to talking to Cassie.

James took a deep breath and went up to Lily. She looked a little confused when she saw him come alone.

"Where is Remus?" she said as she took a lot of tinsel out of a box marked 'decorations'.

"He wasn't feeling well and asked me if I'd help you, he didn't want to leave you stranded"

She smiled, "Thank you, it doesn't look as if Sirius and Cassie are doing a lot and all the other Prefects have long gone, so I could use the help"

"Great, I've just finished that History of Magic parchment – was the most difficult piece of work I've been set this year"

Lily turned, surprised to hear him say something sensible, "I thought it was ok, I could give you some help if you want, as you did so kindly offer assistance with Transfiguration at the beginning of the term"

James squirmed, "Yeah, sorry about that"

Lily chuckled, "Don't worry, the competition alone makes me work harder"

"Glad to be of some help" He climbed up the step ladder to put some tinsel on the tree, glad that she had lightened up a bit.

"So are you going to the dance alone again this year, hoping to be twenty girls' knights in shining armour?" Lily asked cheekily.

James looked surprised, she hardly ever initiated conversations about dates, "Hey! How'd you know about that?"

"I was one of the many who you asked to dance with last year"

"And you turned me down? This could be what has caused by compulsive dating disorder! See it's your entire fault" He smiled to himself, were they flirting?

"I'm sure you wouldn't have noticed, the amount of girls who you had actually managed to win over"

"You sound impressed!" He said hoping to secure her attention.

"Hardly" She replied, beginning to put the ornaments on the tree.

He got down off the ladder and began helping her, "So what about you? Going with Joseph again?"

She blushed a little, "Um, no Amelia will be going to this one so they're going together – I'll be flying solo also"

"And if I asked for a dance this year, would I be rejected again?" He asked, trying his luck, after all Remus did give him this opportunity to take a chance.

"Of course" She smiled. "However if you find yourself alone for five minutes, you will be welcome to come and sit with Figgy and I, if we also are alone."

Well that was something, James had thought and not an entirely wasted afternoon.

"Well I think we're finished, thanks for your help"

"Sure not a problem, um I just thought, aren't Prefects supposed to open the Ball?" James asked curiously.

"Only the heads and seventh year Prefects.have to, thank Merlin" she said with relief, "Thanks again for helping, and if you did need any help with that homework, I'll be pleased to return the favour!" She finished politely.

James hesitated, keen to test the water on how much fun Lily was willing to have, "Is ok Evans thanks, I've finished it and with your past experiences with leaking quills, I don't want to chance it to get ruined" He grinned.

And most surprisingly, she grinned back, "Well it wouldn't matter either way; it would still be a T!" James was pleasantly amused and laughed very loudly.

"Nice one Evans"

"Thanks, anyway I'd better be going, see you later".

James went back to his dorm with a smile across his facing – he thought he had just made a friend.

He went back into the dormitory knowing he would have to make amends with Remus; Remus who he had accused of betraying him, when really he had given him this opportunity of speaking amicably with Lily.

"Hi Prongs, how did it go?" Remus looked up from his book smiling.

Sirius interrupted his two good friends as he waltzed it making his entrance, "well from mine and Cassie's perspective, very well eh Prongs?"

"Ha-ha, yeah, it was ok we talked like friends anyway. Listen Moony-"

"It's ok; I understand what you must have thought. I'm just glad you're getting somewhere."

James thought he should be honest with himself, "Truthfully, I'm not anywhere yet. I plucked up the courage to ask her for a dance at the Ball on Saturday and she politely and subtly turned me down."

"Well you've just got to keep talking and being friendly – I've come to realise you two make a good couple. And I'll put in some good words for you"

James smiled, "Thanks, just don't make it too obvious. Anyway Padfoot, you stuck with your date"

"Yes actually, but she did say I was free to dance with other girls, so long as she can with other lads."

Remus put down his book again, "And are you sure you are ok seeing her with other lads. I couldn't let a girl I was seeing, do that" he said thoughtfully.

Sirius looked deep in thought, "Well it's not as if we're a committed couple so it should be ok."

And as the Marauders were carrying on discussing the Christmas Ball and laughing at Remus for not having a date at the Ball, the girls were also in their own dormitory talking about Cassie's date with Sirius.

"So you're gonna let him dance with other girls, while he's with you knowing what he is like?" Figgy asked suspiciously.

"It's what he wants, and don't think for one minute I'll be moping in the corner, I'll find someone else to dance with"

Lily laughed, "You did make me laugh when you talked of his kids"

"That was priceless Cas" Figgy added.

Cassie then turned to Lily, "Speaking of this afternoon, Lily did you have fun with James; Sirius and I were just saying how good you two look together"

Lily blushed and looked away, "Don't be silly, he just helped me with the decorating as Remus felt ill."

Cassie, who enjoyed making Lily squirm continued, "had a lot of fun though, didn't you? How good would it be if you and James got together – we could go on double dates".

Lily shook her head fiercely, "That is just a ridiculous suggestion – Potter and I will only be acquaintances throughout the whole of our lives, if that! He's too arrogant for us to be anything else"

"He's hot though, right?" Cassie said smirking.

Lily blushed yet again, "He's attractive – anyone would admit that but just because someone is attractive doesn't mean they can win someone over. They've got to be nice, and in Potter's case, has to have the ability to treat women with respect."

Figgy then decided to intervene, "Well you were having fun with Remus as well – I think you should tell her what is going on, we are your best friends!"

"I agree, I tell you everything about Sirius, and then Figgy tells you everything, not that there is a lot to tell" And Cassie got a dead arm on that last comment.

"Well there is nothing to tell, Remus is great as a friend and Potter is only barely a friend – so now you can both stop conspiring against me. I promise I'll tell you if anything happens between me and anyone." She laughed.

"And so you should" Figgy said.

"Well let's just see what happens at the Ball shall we" Lily finished.


	11. The Christmas Ball and its Aftermath

Disclaimer:- Another week has passed and I am still no nearer to owning the Harry Potter series.

Thanks for all the reviewers, especially to Cosmopolitan and Weasleygrlz07 who have been faithful readers and reviewers!

Chapter 11 – The Christmas Ball and the aftermath

"Decorations" Lily said whilst looking through her preparation notes for the Ball.

"Check" Her Prefect partner Remus said whilst ticking his notes.

"Food and Drink"

"Check"

"I think that's it then, tonight should run smoothly" Lily finished in a hopeful tone.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine! It was last year"

"I hope so, do you want to go back to the common room and play some chess?" Lily asked.

However, James' accusations echoed in his head as he was about to agree, "Unfortunately I have to go and get ready and get the others out of bed!"

Lily's face fell, "Oh, well ok I'll see you there then – I'd better go and get ready myself"

"Ok then" Remus waved her off, feeling slightly guilty but also knowing that this was the best thing to do for James and he would do his best tonight to try and push the two together.

Over in Remus Lupin's dormitory, James was pacing the floor, wondering what dress robes to wear – he had the regular black and white ones, a gold one, and then a midnight blue set and he had no idea which ones he should use. There wasn't even a fellow Marauder to help him in his decision. He went downstairs to the Common room and found Lily, as always reading.

"Evans". She looked up curiously.

"Yes" as she put her book down.

"May I have your assistance in what you think I should wear? There isn't anyone else to help me"

Lily laughed "You sound like Cassie".

James was slightly offended, "There's nothing wrong with wanting to look your best"

Lily looked at the three sets of dress robes, James had bought down with him.

"Um I think the blue"

James looked doubtful, "You sure? You're not trying to embarrass me are you?"

Now it was Lily's turn to be offended, "Course not, thought we were friends?"

Then a massive grin spread across James's face, "Ok then – you need any help with yours? Like the zip for instance" he said cheekily.

"No thank you" She said coolly "I have my friends to help me upstairs thank you very much"

"Alright then, see you tonight – and I want a dance"

Lily went back to her book, but still, she couldn't help but be flattered with all the attention he had been paying her recently. She knew she wasn't really interested in him, but yet could he be interested in her? But then she disregarded her thoughts and realised that he flirted with every girl and that he could get any girl in their year so he would hardly want her who never gives him the time of day.

As Lily and Figgy walked into the ball they were flabbergasted, it seemed as if the atmosphere had made the decorations look ten times better and everyone had really gone to town with their costumes. Cassie had not arrived yet as she would be coming with Sirius a little later, so Lily and Figgy decided to find a table first, before dancing or getting any Butterbeer.

Lily was wearing a beautiful green dress that went with her eyes and though compared to Cassie she might look ordinary, whilst she wasn't there, she was clearly the most beautiful at their table. Figgy was wearing a pink and purple dress, which was a little shorter than Lily's but also looked stunning.

Anyway, the next to arrive was the Marauders minus Sirius; Peter and Remus had gone for the traditional black and white dress robes, where James had gone with Lily's advice and worn the blue. She was right, not one other boy was wearing blue, some red and some purple but he really stood out.

Figgy whispered over to Lily, "Doesn't James look hot in his robes?"

"He looks alright I suppose, I did pick the colour"

"Well good choice. What do you reckon, James in dress robes or Quidditch uniform?" Figgy asked, "I reckon Quidditch uniform".

"I'm not answering that!"

"Oh come on, it's only an opinion, I'm not gonna tell everyone"

"Probably the Quidditch uniform, but whatever he looks like doesn't mean he isn't any less arrogant".

Figgy grinned knowing that Lily might start again on her rants about the Marauders again for the one hundredth time that week but was stopped by the arrival of Cassie and Sirius, who obviously liked to make an entrance.

Cassie looked absolutely beautiful in a red gown with gold trimming and Sirius, who also wanted to look a little different, appeared in gold dress robes himself and they looked every bit a couple. There was even some gasps and whistles from the students once they had walked in. Sirius went to the Marauders, where Cassie went to meet Lily and Figgy.

"Hi!" Cassie squealed.

"You look lovely Cas" Lily added in admiration.

"Awww Thanks, but so do you two, what do you think to Sirius? Doesn't he look nice?"

Figgy smiled, "He does, but as we were saying earlier, we think James looks better"

Cassie turned her head, "Lily admitted James looked good"

"Well, no I didn't Figgy's twisting my words" Lily said with her head down.

Cassie's voice suddenly went into a whisper, "girls don't look now, but Amos Diggory is checking either of you two out!"

"Don't be silly Cas, like every other lad in the room he's probably looking at you" Figgy said.

Cassie shook her head, "No we went out for a bit in fourth year, and apparently I broke his heart and now he hates me. Anyway I'm gonna go and get Sirius to dance – you two go and mingle or something." She walked away with her head held high as if she owned the room.

All of a sudden a bright spark flew into the dance floor, like a firework, then Headmaster Dippet stood up – it was time for his speech.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I hope you enjoy the festivities. I'd like to thank all the prefects for their hard work but most importantly Lily Evans and Remus Lupin who I believe have done the most work. Anyway let the enjoyment commence."

There was lots of chatting after the room had gone quiet and it had just dawned upon Lily how many people were actually in the room.

Meanwhile, James and Remus came over to talk to Lily and Figgy,

"Alright Evans?" James said along with one of his famous trademark smiles. Just a couple of meters away, some third years were giggling, trying to catch his attention. He saw but just smiled and turned back.

"Would you like to dance Arabella?" Lily, James and Remus all looked to see that Robert Boot of Ravenclaw had asked her to dance.

"Sure thanks. Um is that okay Lily?"

"Sure have fun" Lily smiled; it was rare that a lad took a lot of interest in Figgy and she was pleased as she was beginning to get down about it. Although she dated a lot more than Lily, there was never that enthusiasm that Cassie had with Sirius.

"What about you Evans? Would you like to join me?" He grinned, but she did not.

"No thanks, I'm happy just sitting here"

However he would not give up.

"Well I'll just sit here with you then" Lily rolled her eyes.

A great amount of sadness and despair made James sit down at her table. He did not really know how to go about winning her over. He thought he was progressing but obviously not – he knew though he had to stick at it. A great girl such as Lily Evans wouldn't be easy for any man.

Or so he thought, he was just about to engage in conversation with her about school (her favourite topic) when someone interrupted.

"Lily?" She looked to see it was Amos Diggory, perhaps Cassie was right after all.

"Would you like to dance?"

Lily was unsure; Amos was intelligent, good looking, a good Quidditch player, but he was incredibly vain. Then she saw her two friends on the dance floor, dancing, Cassie and Sirius not to their best ability but dancing all the same. Then she looked at her table knowing if she declined, she would be stuck with James all night.

"I'd love to". Well the look on James' face was hilarious. He was very confused, why would she say yes to Diggory and not him? He was way better at Quidditch and he had asked first. He banged his head on the table in despair.

"Cheer up mate, it's only a dance" Remus added.

He moodily got up, "I suppose so". However he needed a confidence boost and went to the other side of the hall; lots of girls were following him with their eyes, but he had gone over to Rachael, his biggest fan to ask her for a dance and then led her to the dance floor.

He saw Lily and Amos having a good time and felt a huge pang in his chest; still at least it wasn't a Slytherin.

A couple of hours had gone by and it was nearly midnight; most people were sitting down at this point, tired from the evening's events. Again, most people seemed to think the Ball was even more successful than last year so thus Lily had a permanent smile on her face.

James and Rachael had left about half an hour ago claiming to have gone for a walk around the castle when Sirius and Cassie decided to do the same.

"You wanna go back to the dormitory?" Lily said with a yawn.

"Yeah I could do with some sleep, got class in the morning" Figgy replied. "So what did you think of Diggory?"

"He is alright, not really my type, he's a little vain. But it was fun to spend some time with him tonight"

"And be the envy of every girl there, an invitation from both Amos and James." She said with a snigger.

"How did you know about that?" Lily asked on the way back.

"He told me you refused, he seemed a little upset"

"Well I probably wounded his ego – he had it coming"

"Yeah but you just said you thought he was attractive"

"So, I also told you I wouldn't be able to spend time with him because of his arrogance. I mean did you see him waltz over to Rachael like he had forgotten his past behaviour; I don't know what that girl sees in him." She said angrily

"Well, it's her fault I suppose, though she does get the added bonus of sneaking off with James around the castle"

"You call that a bonus? I'd say it was a form of torture"

Figgy laughed, "Oh lily what are you like, come on then let's get some sleep before class tomorrow"

Lily yawned, "That's a good idea".

As the two girls left the Gryffindor Common room, James walked out from the shadows having heard everything. He knew it was wrong to listen in, but now he really knew what she thought of him – not a lot. He would have to change that somehow or she might start falling for the likes of Amos Diggory who was an even bigger prat than he was.

He began wondering what girls liked, although Lily was in a different league, she must like some attention – he decided to step his 'charm Lily' campaign up a gear and behave how she wanted him to.

The next morning, Lily had awoken to find a rose on her bedside cabinet – she knew there was no way it was there before she had gone to sleep. Had someone given to her at the Ball? No, she would have remembered – She hid it under her bed immediately, knowing that if Cassie or Figgy had found out, she would never have heard the last of it. She decided to quickly get dressed and hurry down to breakfast before Defence Against the Dark Arts began.

She had got dressed and decided to creep a long the Common room as a lot of students had crashed out there last night from after the Ball. She had nearly made it when she heard.

"Good morning Evans" It was James, but to Lily's great surprise he didn't hang around annoying her, he had just strolled straight past her instead. Yet he had still messes his hair up which was something Lily could not stand.

She wondered if he was up to something . . . was he planning a prank? But she decided she would just wipe him from her mind; she had a very busy day in front of her.

Instead she got her breakfast and found herself behind Amos; she cringed not knowing how to act.

"Hi Lily" He said whilst reaching for some porridge.

"Hi, um thanks for the dance last night" They continued talking for a while whilst James looked over at them, watching like a hawk; that is until Sirius nudged him to save him from being yelled at again.

When Lily and Amos had finished talking, they had separated – Lily wondered where to sit, but then saw Cassie sitting next to Sirius. They were becoming obsessed Lily thought to herself. She decided to walk over anyway and found that she was sitting next to James and opposite Cassie.

"Morning" She said to everyone.

"You alright Lils?" Cassie asked, "The Ball was a huge success, everyone's talking about it"

Lily beamed, "good"

"Evans?" James added, "You haven't got a spare hour tonight have you?"

"Why?" She said coldly.

"Well I could do with some help on that Charms work and Remus is away because his mum is sick"

"Sure" Lily replied, never one to turn down an offer to teach people her knowledge.

"But I thought it was me that needed teaching? Remember transfiguration?"

"Yeah, but I have apologised for that?"

"Like you apologised for the prank in second year?"

"Oh come on, that was ages ago, get over it"

"Do you know what? Do the work yourself, if we can't eat breakfast without arguing, we haven't got a hope have we?" Lily said on the verge of shouting.

"Guess not".

The rest of the day went quite smoothly for Lily; she had felt a little guilty for the way she talked to James, but it wasn't just her fault. Her classes meant she hadn't seen him a lot during the day and this cheered her up a lot. Furthermore going to bed was getting nearer and nearer, and as she felt so tired this was a very great thing.

At eight o clock, she said goodnight to all of her friends and went up to bed. She had slept well all the way through the night as she was shattered. But all of a sudden, she awoke. She heard something.

Boom.

Boom.

Lily got out of bed – she went to the window to see that it was almost morning; the sun was just rising. Although she wasn't exactly what you called brave, she was not a scared being either so she went downstairs to find out where the noise was coming from. She realised it was from the Common Room and dressed in her dressing gown, she lifted a mug she found on the way down about to hit the attacker.

"ARGHHHHH", two voices screamed at the same time.

"Lily it's me" She squinted through the darkish room to see Remus; he looked shocking, pale and shaky.

Lily was still breathing hard "Remus, sorry I didn't mean to scare you. How's your mum"

He looked in surprise, "My mum?"

"Yeah, Potter said something about you being away to visit her."

He jumped in realisation, "Oh yeah, much better now thanks"

"So why you back so early?" She said as she put the fire on.

"Only train available. So you and James spoke then"

She shook her head, "I would not call it speaking, more like screaming abuse at each other, and I just don't know how you can stand him for all these years?"

Remus laughed, "You hardly know him, he's a damn good friend"

"Yeah right" scoffed Lily.

"He is, he has done things for me that no other person would even consider doing for a friend".

"Like what? Making you abuse your position of Prefect to join in pranks?"

"It doesn't matter what; just don't judge him till you know him" He finished.

Lily looked extremely confused, "Well I will never think well of him until he has proved he can be a good friend." She said stubbornly.

"Look Lily, I'm going to tell you something that you need to keep quiet"

She rolled her eyes, "Okay"

"Have you ever noticed that I'm not present at Prefect meetings around the full moon?"

Lily's eyes widened having just realised what he meant.

"Yes, well anyway, to help me through it James, Sirius and Peter also interrupt their schedules and join me in animagus form"

She gasped.

"And I would say this proves they're loyal companions."

"He does this for you every month?" Lily said in surprise.

"Ye- shhh" They heard some footsteps.

"Morning Moony, oh Evans it's you." It was James, he reached for the Daily Prophet. "How's your mum Moony?" He winked.

"Stop chatting Potter and go and get your Charm books?" Lily said shortly.

"What?" He said in surprise.

"Well you said you needed help!"


	12. Confused

Disclaimer – I still don't own anything relating to Harry Potter, even though I keep offering J K Rowling some good deals.

Chapter 12 – Confused

James had a massive grin spread across his face the whole day; he didn't know why Lily had helped him that morning but he was pleased. He had bugged Remus all day to get what he had said to her out of his but he would not say, he would only smirk in a knowing way. Nothing had happened between them but James was still optimistic that something could, as she was being civil to him – a rarity in their relationship. However he would savour this new found friendliness with Lily and hopefully, it would progress to something more – it all sounded like work to James though who never had to work this hard for a girl before.

He glanced over to Sirius and Cassie, who were pouring over what appeared to be the Charms work Lily had helped him with earlier. They only had a couple of hours to finish it and they looked completely baffled.

James walked over, "Are you two struggling? If so I would be pleased to offer my assistance."

Sirius laughed very loudly, "Look Prongs, we know you've got some brain cells in that big head of yours, but you are as bad at Charms as me, maybe worse than. If we were working on Transfiguration or Defence Against the Dark Arts then we would gratefully take your help mate"

Sirius and Cassie giggled and went back over their work; James smiled to himself before adding…

"Okay, your loss, by the way the first answer is _semper paratus_"

Sirius put his head up in shock, "Whose homework have you been stealing?"

James gasped in horror mockingly, "No-ones" and began to finish off the Daily Prophet article he was reading, pretending to be absorbed.

"Did you use the cloak to sneak into the classroom to find the answers?"

James shook his head.

Cassie gasped, "Has Lily been helping you? Only she would be able to answer these ridiculous questions".

Sirius scoffed, "As if Lily would help James"

Just then Lily walked in through the Common Room doors with what looked like twenty books in her hands.

"As a matter of fact I did help James. I pitied his inadequacy" She smiled at him in a sickly way.

James looked hurt, "I must have hit a low if I got Evans' sympathy" and smirked back. Though he was able to hide his misunderstanding with sarcasm, he did wonder what had changed Lily so drastically in a couple of hours. To his knowledge they were beginning to get on.

But she just walked past him and went upstairs to her dormitory and Cassie followed.

Sirius looked puzzled, "Thought you two were getting on?"

"So did I, I mean detention was okay and then she offered to help me with that homework and she was actually nice to me"

"What did you say to make her act like that then?"

James glared at him, "Nothing, you know what girls are like"

Sirius nodded furiously in agreement.

Meanwhile upstairs in the girls dormitory, Cassie was questioning Lily surreptitiously on what was going on between her and James.

"You were helping James with his work then?"

Lily looked at her knowingly, "Yes and before you even ask, nothing is going on – I know how you and Figgy like to theorise on implausible relationships"

"I never suggested anything of the sort" Cassie kept staring at her until Lily got annoyed.

"Will you stop it? I'm trying to concentrate" She said, her voice raising a decibel.

"Tell me what's going on then"

Lily laughed, "I don't know what you're going on about – but it's getting old. First Remus, now James – just give it up, when I decide I like someone I will tell you".

"But you did say he was hot"

"I never said that, Figgy said that"

"But you agreed" Figgy said as she walked into the room, "Is Lily finally declaring her love for James and or Remus?"

Lily slammed her work down, yet still not mad as she had a slight smile on her face secretly amused with her friends' willpower, "Look I helped James with his work as he had asked. We're only just friends and that is all Remus and I are also. Why does everything have to be more than that with you two?"

Figgy and Cassie looked at each other in shock, "Sorry Lils, we didn't mean anything by it"

Lily smiled but nonetheless took her work downstairs where James was working. He was still puzzled with her cold attitude that morning.

Lily spoke first, "Have you seen Rachael today at all?"

James looked surprised, "No"

"Well I think you should find her, I saw her crying at the breakfast table today because you've ignored her since the Christmas Ball" Lily replied accusingly.

Now everything had fit into place – Lily was mad with him because of Rachael. He was going to say something sarcastic but decided against it, guessing what Lily's reaction would have been.

"I'll find her after Charms and try and sort her out"

"Good" Lily responded. She resumed back to her work before adding, "She told me that you couldn't see her anymore, even for fun as you'd fallen for another girl".

James looked shocked, he was sure he had told Rachael to keep quiet about that.

"Er yeah that's right"

Lily looked back up, in shock, "Oh, so it isn't just an excuse to finish things then"

James was taken aback; Lily really must think badly of him, "No, it's the truth"

"I must say, you must be turning over a new leaf then – quite a decent thing to do"

"Oh and you thought it was an excuse"

"I never, I merely asked" Lily said trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Yes you did"

"Ok then I did, but you can hardly blame me – who is the girl then?"

James did not expect this, Lily rarely expressed an interest in these topics, "I am keeping this one a secret – don't want to mess it up do I?"

Lily looked befuddled, "Guess not"

"Right I had better go then and get my books for Charms. Thanks for your help this morning?"

"Um no problem." And as James walked away Lily was looking at him in a whole new light and determined to find out who this girl was – maybe she could help him.

Authors Note: Sorry for the long time in updating – I haven't abandoned the story – A levels just taking priority. Thanks if you are continuing reading.


	13. Lily's Realisation

Disclaimer – I only own the words

Chapter 13 – Lily's realisation

It was a Saturday morning and the students were glad; preparation for NEWTS was difficult and monotonous so they were happy to get a day off even though the homework list could fit at least a three foot parchment.

The Marauders had decided to have a relaxing day by the Lake playing a little Quidditch, of course however Remus wanted to take some homework due to the intensity of his schedule and the fact that he missed three days of the month.

James was just collecting his snitch and a small assignment for Potions and was going to meet the others outside. He ran down the grand staircase to the front entrance of the Hall and to his surprise found Lily was behind him. Lily had been quite nice to him since she had found out he could be a decent human being yet he would have liked to have seen her more but due to their full schedules had been unable to. He had decided the best course of action would be not to snigger at her as he might have done but instead hold the door open for her.

She looked surprised but nonetheless walked through, "Thank you Potter" and then she ran, to his dismay to the Lake to meet her friends. He loved the fact that for a whole afternoon he would be able to stare and perhaps talk to Lily but also he hated that Sirius would be either loved up or arguing with Cassie and Remus will be working which left him alone with Peter. He walked down slowly with a frown upon his face to the Lake. It seemed rather busy but he sat down next to Remus and continuously threw his snitch into the air.

"What's up Prongs?" Sirius shouted over from where he was sat next to Cassie.

"Are you having no luck with that girl?" Lily asked not very sympathetically.

Sirius, Remus and Peter all looked up in surprise, what had he told Lily?

"What girl?" Peter asked.

James looked too confused to explain, "There isn't a girl"

"So it's a boy?" Sirius asked jokily. Everyone rolled over laughing. Even James had a smile on his face.

The laughter died down when Peter enquired after Figgy,

"She's doing some transfiguration with Professor McGonagall – I think she is struggling a bit" Cassie replied.

They all laughed and joked together for the rest of the afternoon whilst James, Lily and Remus were trying to complete their work. They were interrupted once by a group of second years who wanted James to sign their own snitches which caused Lily to roll her eyes ferociously at him with the thought of him getting an even bigger head.

However they all dispersed at tea time when they had some food and then separated; Sirius and Cassie were going to finally do some work that had been set; Remus was meeting a girl from Ravenclaw that he had met from the Christmas Ball; Peter had a detention; Lily needed to go to the Library and James was on his way to play some Quidditch with a few of his team mates.

On the way to the library, Lily realised she had forgotten her quill so went back to her dorm to get it and as she went back through the Common room she had bumped into James…again. This time he was in his Quidditch uniform and though she constantly denied it to Figgy and Cassie, she did think he looked very good in his uniform so she was a little red faced when he turned around and realised she was there.

He grinned "Oh hi"

"Hello"

"Are you-" and just as James said this Lily had already begun speaking also " I wan-"

It was a very awkward moment but James gestured to let Lily continue,

"I just wanted to apologise for mentioning that girl at the Lake"

"No problem" he said starting to feel a little uncomfortable but still his confident self.

"I just don't know what made me – I mean if I had known it was Cassie I –"

James looked startled "What!"

She looked flustered. "Well it all makes sense, you hide the fact you like someone from your friends, you don't tell the girl when your usual confident self would, you helped her at the dance and you looked extremely embarrassed earlier. It's the only explanation as you wouldn't betray Sirius" Lily concluded taking a deep breath and looking cautiously at James' expression.

"I assure you, Cassie is far too boisterous for me – she's better suited with Sirius. The girl I like is quite different to Cassie". James began walking, not really wanting to continue with the conversation.

"So why don't you just tell her, you usually do, or at least tell your friends"

James laughed "They know, they just didn't know you knew. I'll tell her when I feel she doesn't hate me anymore" James sat down realising that he wasn't going to get away.

"hmmm so is it someone from Gryffindor?" She asked perseveringly.

James laughed again, "I'm not telling you anything. Is that it? Can I go to Quidditch now?"

She frowned, "I wouldn't tell anyone."

"I know you wouldn't but I don't want you knowing – you could use it against me in one of our arguments" James said with a grin.

"I suppose I wouldn't tell you either" Lily replied stubbornly.

"Give me those books" James said

"Why?"

"I'm gonna carry them till you get to the library on my way out"

"How did you know I was going there?"

"You're always there" Lily smacked him in a friendly way on the arm as they headed out.

For a couple of weeks they began spending more time together unconsciously aware of the fact. They talked about school, love, home life and found that very unconsciously that they enjoyed each others company. However, they would argue and disagree on most things but they happened to bump into each other in the library, at dinner times, and even in the Common room which amused Figgy and Cassie immensely.

The three girls were in their dorm trying to sleep one night when Figgy began quizzing Lily on their new dynamic.

"So Lily what is this new obsession with James?"

She turned around in her bed and mumbled back "What are you on about?"

"You've been seeing a lot of each other recently" Figgy replied.

"We haven't or no more than usual, right Cas?"

"Um no Lily, people are beginning to notice, especially those little girls that follow him around. They're convinced you two are an item and they're gunning for you"

"Oh don't be ridiculous, its just Potter has been having some problems recently and I've been giving him some advice"

"Like what?" Cassie asked with interest whilst saying 'Lumos' with her wand to see Lily's face.

"Well keep it quiet but James is having trouble with a girl who he likes and who doesn't return the feelings. So I've been giving him some advice like casually bump into her or take an interest in what she likes and don't be so arrogant. Just things like that, you know from a girl's perspective"

The cogs were whirring in Figgy's head, "You say this girl doesn't return the feelings"

Lily nodded "apparently she hates him"

"Well the only girl I know who would turn him down is you and if you think back, he has been bumping into you. He's been in the library a lot which you like and he's decreased the amount of times he looks in a mirror in a day and me and Cassie was just saying he has even begun to leave his hair alone."

Cassie gasped, "Yeah – James likes Lily, James likes Lily" she begun to sing in an annoying manner.

Lily put her head back down to her pillow, "Don't be so preposterous. Why would he tell me if it was me"

"Did he tell you?" Figgy enquired.

Lily thought back, "Well no, Rachael told me he liked someone else, but that isn't the point, I'm not his type. Goodnight"

"Well whatever you say Lils, you are the only girl in the whole school who would say no to James Potter except for Slytherins who I'm sure would be more forthcoming than you" Cassie added.

"Goodnight!" Lily said with emphasis, yet she couldn't help but ponder on what they said. What would she ever do if it was her? But it couldn't be, he wouldn't be argumentative towards her if it was true. But what they had said made sense; she would have to sleep on it and see how he acts tomorrow.


	14. Confirmation

Disclaimer – No - still don't own Harry Potter

Thanks for the reviews and to new and existing readers for taking the time to read this!

Chapter 14 – Confirmation

Lily had awoken the next morning feeling very confused and unsure of what to think – she didn't even know what she wanted to think. On one hand it was very flattering if James did like her, but then again he was arrogant, self-righteous and big headed which was her biggest pet hates.

She spent many days analysing how he acted around her and wondering if her friends were right. She hadn't come up with a definite answer but she had decided she hoped they were friends and that is it. She was just daydreaming about a formula in arithmancy that she just could not seem to break as she walked into the Common room and she heard two voices shrieking at each other.

"Well I saw you looking at her"

"I'm allowed to look – you do it all the time"

"Not in front of you and it's different for a boy"

"Oh don't give me that sexist crap"

Lily knew it was Sirius and Cassie having their weekly argument where one of them had been flirting with someone else – they just couldn't help it. Lily chuckled but decided to wait outside until they had finished – they didn't usually take too long as one of them usually stormed off.

She had her ear quite close to the door when someone whispered "are you listening to things that don't concern you Evans?" with raised eyebrows.

"tut tut tut" he added looking ashamed of her.

Lily jumped and saw James there, clearly having come back from history of magic as he had a vacant expression across his face.

"Oh it's you"

"And just the welcome I needed after an hour learning about the two Troll wars of '62"

Lily giggled, he did make her laugh, "Sorry I have something in my head I'm trying to work out that I just can't get"

"Anything I can help with?" he asked hopefully.

"No, its arithmancy"

"Excuse me, are you trying to say I am inadequate and remedial?" he asked with a smirk.

"Yes I believe you are in that field actually Potter" she replied with a smile. "What are you so happy about anyway?"

Over the past couple of weeks she had felt comfortable with him apart from suspecting his feelings may be more than friendly towards her.

James smiled, "Well since you ask, that girl I was telling you about has agreed to hang out this week"

Lily looked surprised, her friends and she had got it wrong, "good for you – does that mean you can tell me who it is?"

James laughed, "wow you're determined, sorry but no, I really don't want to jeopardise it"

"FINE THEN GET LOST YOU ONE LEGGED SKREWT!"

James and Lily looked at each other and burst out laughing. It was obviously Cassie and her infamous and imaginative insults. It had gone silent so James said

"Do you think we can go in now?"

"They do appear to have gone" Lily replied.

They said goodbye and went their separate ways.

Lily was shocked; she had convinced herself that his new attitude had been for her benefit. She was pleased however as they could continue being friends which she was enjoying at the minute. She also felt a bit stupid and arrogant herself for thinking he would like her when she was only ordinary, thinking about it of course it would be someone else.

But she was pleased for him, he had liked her for a long, long time and with that last thought about James Potter, she felt relief that she could stop worrying and feeling guilty and could get back to normal so she settled down onto her bed with Cassie sulking in the next one, whilst trying to work out the arithmancy problem that was haunting her.

James on the other hand had gone up to his dormitory, looking a little gloomy; he had lied to Lily but Sirius had informed him the night before last that Lily could know how he felt about her, as Cassie had been probing him about it. He had left it a day in case she initiated something but as she had not he had to have some pride and recover the situation by deceiving her. But he felt awful, he never had to cover up his feelings with any other girl!

A couple of hours later after finishing a four foot parchment on how Hyacinth Root can alter a Potion, he had to go to Quidditch practice. He passed the other Marauders as he ran out of the entrance and gave them the thumbs up to signal everything went ok with Lily.

On his way back from Quidditch he eyed Lily, as usual with a pile of books coming back from the library. However he decided to keep his distance, she might ask questions he was unable to answer about his 'date'.

"Miss Evans" James could see Amos Diggory cornering her on her way back to the dorm. He stayed around the corner just checking she was ok.

"Good evening Amos" Lily replied and James saw her struggle to get away but Amos gently blocked her which angered James immensely.

"Look Lily, I know it didn't work out with us before but I was wondering-"

"Um I have to get back" she said rather uncomfortably as she slid against the wall out of his grip. But he pushed her back a little more fiercely. James felt the anger boiling up inside him, how dare he treat her like that?

"You're not listening to what I have to say" he added forcefully. Lily looked a little frightened at that moment whilst trying to maintain a bit of dignity.

James had decided enough was enough; it looked like Lily Evans had exaggerated her independence and ability to handle herself in dangerous situations.

He walked over with his broomstick looking rather more self important than he was. He put his arm around Lily, bent down and kissed her gently on the cheek

"I've missed you honey" James said with a wink and then looked at Amos straight in the eye as if challenging him to a dual.

Lily looked horrified as Amos walked away looked defeated. When he was out of hearing distance, Lily pushed James' arm off of her shoulder violently.

"What did you do that for?" she shouted.

"I was helping you, you clearly needed help"

"I had it all under control thank you very much. What right do you think you have pretending I'm your property?" she said very indignantly.

James looked shocked, hadn't he just saved her from a horrible situation. He looked bewildered

"You couldn't handle yourself; he's twice as big as you and was forcing himself on you. I was protecting you"

"Oh forget it" Lily said storming off, "Couldn't expect a self obsessed prat to realise what he had done wrong"

James was completely aghast and couldn't understand what he had done wrong and dawdled upstairs realising he had made a fool of himself yet again. He'd never win her over.

Lily, however knew she was too harsh on him but she was really angry. . . Angry at the fact he had lied to her. . .Angry that what he had done confirmed her thoughts that he did like her. Why else would he wade in to stop another lad making a pass at her. . . Angry that the whole school would know tomorrow James had kissed her and think they were involved. But she was most angry with herself as the kiss on the cheek was better than any real kiss she'd ever had which scared her; she knew she would have to stay away from James Potter or she might end up falling for him which was the last thing she wanted.


	15. A True Reflection

Disclaimer: I'll see what my birthday brings, but I still don't think I own Harry Potter.

Chapter 15 – A True Reflection

Lily had awoken that morning hoping and praying that the events of yesterday were only a bad dream but as she went down to breakfast she realised this was just not the case. She got a breakfast tray, put some cereal and orange juice on it and went to sit with her friends.

However on her way to the table, most students were glancing from her to James, whispering and giggling. It had seemed as if the whole school had heard about last night's events. Lily walked as quickly as she could over to the table, he head facing the floor; though she acted as if she was an individual who could handle herself, the truth was she was very insecure which explained the shade of red that was now across Lily's face.

"Are you alright Lils?" Figgy asked.

Lily with her face down slowly taking spoonfuls of cereal did not respond.

"Lily?" Cassie probed. "Look if you like James, so what."

Lily put her head up looking very confused.

"So you kissed him, it's your business and they're probably all jealous. I get it all the time being with Sirius."

She couldn't believe her friends believed this cruel tale of events.

Lily finally spoke in a very low whisper, "I think whatever you have been told has been taken out of context." She hissed, "I did not kiss Potter".

"Oh" replied Figgy. "We heard you two sneaked off and have been having secret meetings"

"Yeah which made sense as you two are quite close now" Cassie added very cautiously as Lily was giving them both a look that could kill.

"Look, I'd tell you both if anything was going on, promise" she said.

Lily continued eating her breakfast, feeling awful knowing the whole school was probably talking about her. James was across the room trying to look her in the eye but she only looked down at the newspaper, knowing the school would be so excited about this new bit of gossip, probably wondering what James Potter, future international Quidditch star was doing with boring, dull Lily Evans.

Suddenly she heard a voice in the crowd

"Hey Prongs, what's it like to snog the good girl of the school. Makes a change for you doesn't it"

Lily felt sick pondering over how the truth could have distorted itself so much; knowing it must have been a case of Chinese whispers. Cassie and Figgy looked at her sympathetically but she knew she had to get out of the Great Hall. She walked out with as much dignity as she could muster and went in the direction of the Common Room.

"Evans" She looked behind and saw James following her but she ignored it and continued walking briskly.

Yet the Quidditch star was too fast for her and she felt him pull her around to face him.

"Are you ok?" he said feebly.

Lily couldn't believe the audacity of him speaking to her when he was the one who started this off.

"Am I ok? Everyone's talking about me" she responded angrily whilst trying to go upstairs.

James shrugged, "So, ignore them"

"You are not entitled to give me advice," she said in a heated rant "not when you were the one who started the rumour. Trying to get a bit of credibility were you? A case of who could get Lily first was it?" She replied, her anger rising.

James looked shocked, "No I didn't start it. It was Diggory, probably trying to hide that you rejected him."

"Well I don't care who started it, you shouldn't have interfered last night. You may be used to rumours concerning you, but I like my privacy" She said indignantly.

"Look, any other girl would be –"

Lily couldn't believe him, he really didn't care. He just thought she was over-reacting. "Well I'm not any other girl and I wasn't flattered I was repulsed"

Though Lily was lying, she knew the only thing that would deflate James' head was an insult. Besides she was so angry, she didn't really consider what she was saying might hurt him.

And James was hurt, "I was only trying to help"

Lily scoffed at the thought of James being unselfish, "Stop trying to be the knight in shining armour, you were trying to get into my good books"

James looked sheepish, "So you know then?"

"Yeah I know and you don't have a chance. So go and hit on another girl who you will get bored of in ten minutes." She glared at him and he glared back.

James was going to retort but decided instead to walk away. He was hurt but he knew Lily was angry, he did know Lily was insecure and that the rumours would have freaked her out.

Lily on the other hand had gone into her dormitory and cried. She hated that James got to her and she was feeling guilty for being so nasty to him. Usually she would have been kinder in letting him down but she was so angry with him, she couldn't help but shout.

Figgy and Cassie followed her up and saw that her face was tear-stained.

"awww Lily, they'll all forget about it tomorrow" Figgy said running over to give her a hug.

"Yeah me and Sirius'll do something extreme which should help".

Lily laughed, "Thanks but that's only a bit of why I'm upset"

She wiped her eyes with a sleeve,

"Potter sort of admitted he liked me afterwards."

Cassie squealed, "I knew it!"

"Is that why he started that rumour then?" Figgy asked

"Cause I'll batter him if you want" Cassie added.

"No, apparently Amos told everyone what happened. I just feel bad because I was so horrible to him" Lily replied.

"Lily he's hexed people, he deserves a good talking to now and then. Don't feel bad" Figgy said.

"Still I think I'm going to have to apologise, you can't help who you like can you?"

Lily got up off her bed, pleased she had such great friends. But she still didn't know how Cassie and Sirius had these fights all the time and still stayed together. But then again she didn't have the feelings for James that Cassie had for Sirius.

Meanwhile James was on the Quidditch Pitch flying to try and distance himself from the events of this morning. He knew Lily was angry and was probably feeling bad at the minute but 'You have no chance' was circling around his head. He had needed some time away from the situation and Quidditch worked as stress relief.

He decided they would have to stay friends with Lily but he also would have to get over her, at least that was the advice from the Marauders after he told them about his and Lily's argument. He liked her a lot but he could find someone else and transfer these feelings.

Just as he was landing and got off of his broom, a group of girls were huddled together watching his every move, he grinned glad that he still had some admirers.

"Afternoon" he said as he walked past and winked. The girls shrieked and one of them shouted

"Are you and Lily Evans an item then?"

James looked back and smiled, "Definitely not, it was just a rumour"

Another girl spoke up, "I thought it must be, you could do a lot better than her" she said while playing with her hair.

James recognised this girl as a fifth year student; she was fairly pretty with long dark hair.

"Sorry, what's your name?"

"Hannah" she said smiling

James thought this girl was quite adorable, obviously not in a Lily way but she might help him move on.

"Well may I escort you back to the castle Hannah?"

Her friends got all excited and Hannah looked as though she was in a dream.

"Erm thank you"

James took her arm, glad to be adored again, these types of relationships were easy; he was able to be himself and not have to stretch himself or fight for the girl like he did with Lily.

He made a few jokes while Hannah laughed and hung on to every word he said. Just as they entered the Castle, Lily was on her way down to apologise to James. He didn't see her but she saw him with Hannah and noted how quickly he had gotten over her.

She frowned wondering if it was the real thing or if Hannah was only another Rachael giving his ego a boost after her rejection, but nonetheless she wasn't happy to him with her. She walked past them in the direction of the dungeons wanting to speak to Professor Slughorn but he didn't acknowledge her and suddenly Lily wondered if she'd made a mistake.


	16. Potions

Disclaimer: Sadly, my birthday wish was not attained so I still don't own anything you recognise.

Chapter 16 – Potions

Two weeks had passed since Lily had witnessed James' moving on; James and Hannah still appeared to be very much together and though it had been a while they were still the talk of the school. All talk of Lily had now disappeared and though this was what she had wanted, she was still a little depressed.

In her dormitory she had begun to read when Cassie and Figgy who had noticed the change in Lily's mood and tried to talk to her for the first time that week. They approached her with some ice cream

"Hi Lils, are you feeling any better?" Figgy asked sympathetically.

Lily eyed the ice cream hungrily; she had almost forgotten the need to eat these last few days. She gladly accepted it.

"Thanks, but I'm fine" she replied unconvincingly.

Unexpectedly Cassie laughed, "Don't you lie to us Miss Evans, ever since that thing about you and James went round school, you've been distant and depressed."

Lily sighed, "Honestly, the rumour bothered me but I don't care about it now, I'm just glad to have Potter out of my life finally".

"Are you sure?" Figgy asked, not quite believing Lily's words.

Lily hit her with her spoon, "Honestly! Now shall we go to Potions? Sluggy's gonna love this new book I found."

And having convinced her friends that she was ok, the three of them hurried down to Potions. However she wasn't ok, she had had two weeks to think about her feelings for James and she had come to the conclusion that she felt nothing for him. But that was only on the surface as every time she did see James with Hannah, a horrible feeling came to her stomach that only disappeared when he did.

James on the other hand had been so mad with Lily's rejection and outburst that he had forgotten all about his feelings for her and was having a great time with Hannah. Hannah let him do whatever he wanted, if he cancelled a date she didn't mind and James was happy with their arrangement. If he had been with Lily, he was so besotted that she would have had all the power and he wouldn't be able to do what he wanted. So overall he thought, everything worked out for the best.

The Marauders were on their way to Potions also, just as Hannah had left James to go to Charms.

Whilst walking rather briskly, Remus and James were separated from Sirius and Peter who were arguing over the Quidditch World Cup.

James laughed as he said to Remus, "Peter's so wrong, Ireland could not win with their team members. They need to get rid of Gesta and then they might have a chance."

Remus absentmindedly shook his head at James, "Prongs, when are you going to stop being the idiot you are and finish things with Hannah?"

James stopped walking. "Excuse me"

"You heard, you're using her to get over Lily and if you did the right thing in dumping her, you will be respecting her far more"

They both continued walking in silence. James pondered over what Remus had said but finally concluded that he was doing nothing wrong.

"Look mate, I know you're trying to give me some advice, but I actually really like Hannah so I'm doing nothing wrong"

"It's nothing compared to the way you felt for Lily though" Remus added smugly.

James felt his voice rise a little, trying to justify himself; he knew Remus was right but wouldn't admit it himself.

"Evans was just a phase; looking back I don't even think it was as serious as I made out"

Remus sniggered, "I don't think so, remember the fit you had at me just because Lily and I were hanging out"

James was beginning to feel uncomfortable with the momentum of the conversation and speedily rushed off to Potions where he immediately stopped as he came face to face with Lily who looked extremely distressed.

She spoke first.

"Hello"

James, still feeling bitter from those words that had hurt his ego two weeks ago, stared at her for two seconds before turning away and walking into the dungeons. He had completely ignored her, but in his mind she had deserved it for what she had put him through. He had begged, been gentlemanly and rescued her and all she had done was treat him badly and now it was her turn to be treated in the same way.

He sat down angrily. A moment later Remus sat next to him before under his breath noting,

"No feelings there at all Prong huh". He had a knowing smile on his face.

James slammed his quill onto the desk and turned his head round to see Lily and Figgy sitting at their desk. Lily looked miserable and James smirked. Though deep down he still felt confused that he felt both hate and love for Lily at the same time; he was deeply confused.

Lily, meanwhile didn't look up from her desk. She had tried to patch things up but he had ignored her, she felt silly knowing that she had ruined everything because she was stubborn and couldn't cope with a bit of gossip. She had felt James turn and look at her but didn't raise her head knowing he would only have glared at her, and she couldn't take that at this moment.

"Good morning class" Professor Slughorn began.

"Today I want to continue the theory on the hair-growth potion. So if you open the textbook to page one hundred and sixteen and answer questions one to eight."

Both James and Lily were relieved with the work set. Though theory was boring and tedious it meant they would not be harassed with questions from both Figgy and Remus.

Cassie and Sirius were as usual sat together at the back of the room able to whisper to each other.

"So what's going on with James and Hannah then?" Cassie asked getting closer to Sirius.

"Prongs hasn't given much away, he says he really likes her though. What about Lily?"

Cassie shrugged, "She's been moping about but claims it has nothing to do with James. I don't know why she's upset though it's not as if she didn't have the chance."

"Exactly, you can't expect to get anywhere if you ignore them all the time" Sirius responded tutting.

"Well it's just Lily's way, she said she might hook up with Amos though just for revenge" Cassie laughed.

Sirius laughed also, "Why are girls so stupid? James won't care what she does"

"Excuse me, are you calling Lily stupid?"

"Well if she gets with Amos to spite James, I guess I am"

Cassie moved away from him, "Well I don't know if I can be with someone who thinks my friend is stupid"

Sirius looked befuddled, "Hang on –

All of a sudden Professor Slughorn looked up, "Mr Black, Miss Radley, could we please reach the understanding that my lesson is not a time for lovers to sort out their problems. That is what free lessons are for".

Cassie looked a little red and continued to answer the questions.

James shot Sirius a dead eye knowing what they were probably talking about. He was now fed up with the whole school talking about him, especially when his best friend joined in.

The bell rang and James was the first out of the door, happy to be free from his awkward encounter with Lily and Remus.

He noticed that Hannah had come to meet him and he grinned – she knew how to cheer him up.

"Hi James"

Shortly after he had exited the Dungeons, he had heard Lily, Cassie and Figgy follow as Cassie was moaning about Sirius,

"Who does he think he is?"

And as Cassie was ranting on, Lily was busy looking at Hannah and a very aware James who kissed Hannah very passionately just as Lily looked in their direction.

Hannah didn't know the kiss was premeditated; James didn't care that it was planned; Lily cared a lot.


	17. Plans

-1Disclaimer: Nothing related to Harry Potter belongs to me :'(

Please read and review :D:D

Chapter 17 - Plans

Summer was drawing near and the end of the academic year was not far away. Lily, Cassie and Figgy were sitting in the Common Room discussing the events of last week.

'Come on Cas, make it up with Black, I'm sick of seeing him moping around' Figgy said quietly, hoping not to be overheard by the marauders.

'I'll make up with him in my own time, want him to suffer first', she replied with an evil glint in her eyes.

Lily wasn't really listening, she was lying down reading some a muggle book that she had forgotten she had. She wasn't really paying attention to the book; she was wondering why James wasn't with his friends. He's probably with Hannah, she told herself. Not wanting to express her thoughts to her friends, she made out she was deeply engrossed in her book. She wasn't too engrossed however to notice James walk into the room.

He smiled at his friends, took a look round the room and acted as if Lily was invisible. He was still clearly mad about Lily telling him he didn't have a chance. Lily couldn't stop thinking about him recently; she felt awful that she had made someone hate her so much.

Later that evening Sirius was alone in the Gryffindor armchair when Cassie wanted a word.

'Hi'

He left it a minute before responding. 'Came crawling back did you?'

'I know you missed me' she smirked.

'So what if I did?' He was being very casual about the reconciliation, he hadn't even moved from his position.

'Lily's miserable - I've got a plan and was wondering if you would help me'. She asked him in a very girly way hoping she could charm him.

'Go on..' He replied mysteriously.

Cassie went on to persuade Sirius that the reason Lily was so depressed these days was because she had feelings for James.

'It makes sense. She had him chasing her for so long but she could never let her guard down. Now he's moved on, she cant.'

'But he's with Hannah now and he's happy.' He argued.

'Is he as happy as he would be with Lily?'

Sirius couldn't say yes, he knew Cassie was right. James would always have Lily in his heart. They both agreed to trick them both into meeting. Once Lily and James had the chance to talk, their feelings might return.

Back in the lads dormitory, Sirius was trying to put his plan into action.

'Prongs, hows it going with Hannah?'

James smiled. 'Amazing, she lets me do what I want, she's so much better than those high maintenance girls'.

'I bet' Peter chimed in.

'How would you know wormtail, u haven't had a date for months!' Prongs replied. 'You want to get yourself a nice fifth year, they know how to treat their lads. No games'.

Sirius had had enough of James trying to defend his relationship with Hannah. 'Prongs, can you meet me in the library at seven tonight?'

James laughed, 'you in a library? Why?'

Sirius pulled James to one side. 'Look, this is between you and me ok?'

'Sure, you know I'd never tell'. James said seriously.

'I've had enough of Cassie, you're right about younger girls being better, they adore you. Anyway there's one I want who's always in the library. I just need some support, someone who can distract their friends'.

James smirked, 'that's the Padfoot I know, see you at seven.' He laughed.

Meanwhile, in the girls room, Cassie was having an easier time persuading Lily to go to the library.

'Sure Cassie I'd love to help you with your Charms work' Lily beamed, she loved helping her friends with homework.

Later that evening, at 6.50pm, James was in the library knowing full well when your friends needed you to help you with a girl, you must arrive promptly.

Lily was on her way to the library, she peeked through the window in the door and saw James. Her heart fluttered a little, he looked great. She didn't know if it was him or the fact that he was in the library which appealed more to her. She wondered if she should talk to him; it had been a while but Lily missed him.

She went to sit at the same table as him whilst waiting for Cassie.

'Hey' She smiled and the familiar sharp pain in his stomach returned.

'That seats taken' he replied bluntly.

She looked taken aback , 'I'm sorry, I didn't realise'.

She got up to move and he said 'how have you been'. She sat back down.

'Great thanks, just have far too much work. How's you and Hannah?'

'Brilliant, it's nice to be with someone who wants to spend time with me and doesn't care what people think' Lily knew this was a dig at her but she was determined to be amicable.

'Why should she care? She's got a great catch' she replied quietly. James looked up surprised. Lily carried on 'Anyway I had better go, doesn't look like Cassie's coming'

'you're supposed to be meeting Cassie? That's strange, Sirius wanted me to meet him here'

Lily smiled. 'I hope this wasn't a plan of theirs'. She turned to leave. As she did Amos approached her.

'Miss Evans, I wanted to run into you. I wanted to apologise for my behaviour earlier on in the term'

Lily blushed, 'don't worry about it'

Amos beamed, 'let me escort you to your room'

Lily looked from Amos to James and realised she should move on. James was happy now. 'Thank you' she replied. And took his arm.

James, meanwhile was furious. Seeing Amos had reminded him that he had been the reason he had lost her. He was making so much progress with Lily until he showed up and ruined everything. Hearing Lily's voice had been a reminder also of everything he loved about her; he knew he had been right to stay away from her and ignore her as this had helped him move on; of course now, everything had come flooding back.

He went back to his room knowing this had been a set up.

'Hi Prongs, how did it go?' Sirius asked, not attempting to hide his plans.

James looked angry. 'Admitting it now are you? Are you trying to make me as miserable as the rest of you, you sad pathetic lot'.

Sirius' mouth opened wide 'look mate, I was trying t-'

'you weren't trying to help, you was interfering. I'm happy with Hannah!' James shouted back.

Remus spoke quietly, 'from an observer, I don't think you are. You know its always been Lily'

James sank into his chair and put his face in his hands.

'What are you gonna do Prongs?' Sirius asked.

James looked up, ' I really don't know'.


	18. Spying and Repression

Chapter 18 - Spying and Repression

Chapter 18 - Spying and Repression

Lily and James had avoided each other for a little over a week now and both had gone out of their way to arrange this. James, confused as ever had spent the week wondering if he had been a little rash jumping into a relationship with Hannah so quickly. He liked her, there was no doubt about that but she wasn't Lily and Lily surrounded his thoughts for a large proportion of his day. He knew there was no chance with her now and he really wanted to get over her but he didn't know if Hannah was the right way to go about it.

Lily, meanwhile, was enjoying the time away from him. Her feelings had been quite mixed up over the past year as to whether she hated or loved James. She never had feelings for him, but there was something there: a fascination. She hated that he was with Hannah, or was it that she hated him using another girl to get over her? She was very very confused.

Amos had continued to pay her attention over the past week but she did not want to know. Lily wasn't one to hurt or deceive a man in regard to his feelings but she did enjoy his company as a friend. They had a spent a few evenings together in the library and although James had not seen them, the news had reached his ears.

'Come on Lily, tell us!!' Figgy squealed, eager to get the gossip out of her.

Lily looked coy, there was nothing to tell but the mere accusations was making her feel guilty.

'Li-ly' whined Cassie, 'you have to tell us! I tell you everything about Sirius'.

Lily gawped 'Yeah, but I never want to know, u force me to listen you cheeky troll'.

Cassie and Figgy would not give up staring at her so Lily had to give in eventually.

'Honestly, there is nothing to tell. He's a good friend and we've been studying together.' Cassie and Figgy gave each other a look that said 'yeah right'.

Lily threw a pillow at them. 'I promise, I'd tell you if there was something to tell. I mean it, I've been thinking a lot recently and the James stuff has taught me that I like being alone and without all the gossiping. I'm not the girl who gets the boys, I'll leave that to Cassie - speaking of which how's things with Sirius?'

Cassie looked happy with the response, 'well you know, its ok. It feels a bit stale though because we've been going out for a while now. I'm worried he's gonna get bored and move on'

'As if!' Figgy said, supporting her friend.

Cassie smiled. 'Thanks, I'll mix it up a bit anyway, have a fight with him or something'. They all laughed and continued having a good old gossip and a catch up.

It got to eight o clock and Lily got up from the sofa in the common room.

'Where are you off to Miss Evans? More secret meetings with Amos?' sniggered Cassie.

'Leave her alone', kind hearted Figgy responded.

Lily walked towards the door, 'No, gonna have to do my rounds, see if anyones out of bed. I've been neglecting these duties recently, and I feel I ought to get back into them and get back to normal.' She replied.

'Good idea' Figgy said warmly.

Lily smiled and as she opened the door, said 'and I promise, Lily Evans is 100 man free for the rest of the year'.

Lily sped round the castle making sure everyone in her house was in their tower. She hadn't checked now in a few days and had left it to Remus, she felt bad and wondered if he was out here. She headed towards the lake looking for any scoundrels. She found not one, but two.

There sitting by the lake was James and Hannah. James had organised a late evening picnic for her, there was a rug, some wine and fruit (no doubt stolen from the kitchens Lily thought to herself) and he had cast a spell to play some quiet soothing music. Hannah looked so happy and James also looked as if he was enjoying himself.

Lily watched them for ten minutes; she watched him pour her more wine, tuck her hair behind her ears, gently kiss her forehead while they were snuggled up together watching the moonlight. Lily had never thought James to be a romantic and seemed shocked. Nor did she realise he had liked her this much.

However there did appear to be one odd occurrence - when James was pursuing Lily , she was always laughing and he was always teasing her and there was nothing of that sort with Hannah. She did not know which meant James was more in love but she could not deny he did not have strong feelings for Hannah after this beautiful night he had created for her.

Lily bit her lip knowing full well that she could be sitting there instead. She did not have feelings for him but there was something there, she felt empty and sad knowing she had missed out.

'Boo' Lily was startled. She turned around and saw Lupin.

Lily beamed, 'Remus! You gave me a fright'.

'Sorry Lils, I was just checking everyone was in the tower and then saw James.' Lupin looked very grave. 'I'm surprised you haven't sent them in'.

Lily blushed knowing this was out of character for her. 'I would have but it looks as though he's gone to so much effort'.

Lupin looked surprised, 'yeah he's been planning this for a while. I thought you would be the first person to regard this behaviour as unacceptable.'

Lily for some reason jumped at the chance to talk about James. 'I'll let him off this once. He's ok then? Happy?'

Lupin found this an odd question but humoured her nonetheless. 'He's fine, finally seems to have settled down which is refreshing, I'l tell him you asked about him.'

Lily quickly responded, 'No, it's ok, I was just asking out of politeness really.'

'I see' Lupin smiled.

'What's Hannah like?' She asked whilst walking in the direction of the castle.

'She's very sweet, absolutely adores James. I don't think she ever imagined for it to last this long, especially with what went on with you two.'

Lily blushed again, 'That was hardly anything Remus, just a misunderstanding. Anyway I had better be off'.

Lily ran back to her room leaving Lupin; the words 'finally settled' echoed in her ears. She was happy for him - he deserved to be happy after she had rejected him so cruelly. She entered her room, Cassie and Figgy fast asleep - it was gone ten by the time she had finished her rounds. She went to bed picturing the moonlit picnic; she'd be so happy if someone had put that much effort in for her. She put her head on her pillow, adamant that she did not like James, rather that she thought Hannah a very lucky girl.

Meanwhile back in the Marauders room, James had just got back from walking Hannah back to her room to be greeted to a lot of teasing off of him so called friends.

'Aww Prongsie, what a gentleman you are, would you be so kind to watch the moon with me tomorrow night' Sirius said whilst fluttering his eyelashes.

James pushed him on the shoulder 'shut up Padfoot, I'm just keeping her sweet'.

'You must really like her to go to all that trouble' Said Peter.

James brushed off Peter's comment. 'She's cool'.

Lupin looked up from his Muggle Study Textbook. ' Completely over Lily then?'

James shot Lupin a look explaining to back off, 'that was hardly a thing, just fancied a challenge. I'm better off without her.'

Lupin smiled, 'good, guess you're not interested in what she said about you tonight then'

'Nope'. And with that James went to bed slightly irked that Lupin had mentioned Lily's name when he was trying his hardest to forget about her.

The next morning Sirius and Peter had rushed to breakfast being the most fascinated with food. James too loved breakfast but he hung back on purpose. He wanted to talk to Lupin.

'Um Moonie' He began.

'Yes' Lupin knew exactly what James wanted.

'What did Evans say last night? Just checking she wasn't bad mouthing me or anything' He looked sheepish, knowing full well what Lupin was thinking.

'On the contrary, she asked about you and Hannah. She saw you at the Lake last night and didn't send you in, quite admirable I thought.'

James nodded and gulped, 'yeah it was. Er what did you say, about me and Hannah I mean.'

'Just that you were both happy.' Moonie went downstairs to join Sirius and Peter. James sat on his bed trying to take in everything that had happened.

He knew he had to find her to thank her. In the back of his mind it was an excuse to talk to her but he brushed this aside telling himself, it was merely to thank her as he could have been in a lot of trouble had he been sent in from the lake. He didn't know where to look so waited until after Charms to seize his moment.

Lily was always last out of the room as she usually had something to ask the professor as Charms was her passion. He pretended he had dropped his books and followed her out.

'Evans' he called.

Lily looked back, a little shocked. She could not deny she had noticed they were alone in the classroom together, but never thought it was so he could talk to her.

'Potter'.

James had almost forgotten what effect those gleaming green emerald eyes had on him, he was spellbound once more.

'I wanted to say thanks for last night, Lupin said you saw us but didn't tell'

Lily was saddened, he hoped he was going to renew his feelings, that she was going to get the romantic picnics. Then she remembered she had swore off men, she smiled.

'No problem.'

She turned away to walk in the direction of her friends but James spoke once more.

'Any reason, usually you'd jump at the chance to send someone back to their rooms'.

He hoped their was a reason, all his repressed feelings had come flooding back.

'No' she said absentmindedly, 'you both looked happy, that's all'.

'Well plenty of times you've caught me and Rachel in the broom cupboard looking happy but you sent us back anyway' he smirked.

Lily was reminded of James' old ways.

'Yes, I forgot about that, perhaps I should have done something'. She said in contempt.

She turned away, this time for good knowing full well she could never fall for such a player, she knew she could repress and ignore any tiny feeling she may have for him.

James stood there knowing he had said the wrong thing yet again. He felt two hands fall over his eyes and heard a voice 'guess who'. He turned to see Hannah beaming. She was clearly still impressed with his efforts from the previous night. He took her hand knowing second best was all he could hope for at the current time.


	19. Meddling and Matching

Hello again! Finished my exams now so can crack on with the story. Please review, it would be nice to get some feedback on the story!

Chapter 19 - Meddling and Matching

Lily was sitting in the Common Room with Figgy, finishing off their Potions assignment. Cassie was absent as she had been swept away by Sirius who insisted she joined him in the kitchens. Lily had decided she had not heard him shout that out in the middle of a busy Gryffindor Common Room; she would hate to get her friend into trouble.

'Lily' Figgy groaned. 'I don't get how snakeskin can act as a catalyst. Sluggy asks the hardest questions.'

Lily looked amused at her frustration as she ragged her parchment with a very sullen look on her face. Lily grinned.

'Its not funny Lils, we're not all as smart as you'

'Sorry, its just not the parchments fault. Here let me have a look at what you've already written you big skrewt!' Lily replied with a warm smile on her face.

Lily and Figgy had spent the majority of the evening sorting the assignment out and both knew they'd be doing the same thing the following evening to help Cassie with hers.

Back in the dormitory Cassie had reappeared at a very late hour looking very pleased with herself.

'Hello friends' She said wandering in.

Lily and Figgy looked at each other but Figgy was the first to speak.

'Whats wrong with you?'

Cassie smiled, 'Nothing, just had a lovely time.'

'And I'm sure Sirius will be having a lovely time with 4 more girls this week' Lily responded.

'Lily my dear not even you can bring me down today. Besides Sirius said that James has been talking about you a fair bit recently. He reckons he's still hung up on you' Cassie had a knowing look on her face which irritated Lily beyond belief.

'Well I don't know why you think that information is valuable to me' She replied turning her back towards them and fiddling with her necklace. She did want to know more; her fascination with James was growing. There was chemistry between them, there was no doubt about that. 'And anyway he's dating Hannah, he shouldn't even be talking about other girls'

'Maybe he liked you and started seeing Hannah as a way of getting over you' Figgy wisely said.

Lily laughed. That might have been the case but even so she needed to get James out of her head. He was a player and she didn't need to be hurt again; seeing him and Hannah at the lake was enough for one week.

Cassie chipped in 'I agree, I think he likes you. Remember how horrible he was to you and then all of a sudden he was nice- it was like he changed tactics.'

'Well even so, I don't like him so whatever you two are trying to do, I'd give up now'.

Cassie wasn't the type to give up however. 'It's just you cant be that happy being single, Figgy goes on a lot of dates, I'm with Sirius. You need to get out more and work doesn't count as a companion. Dating is really fun and at our age its what we should be doing.' Cassie looked deadly serious. Lily believed her to be truly worried about her lack of social life and couldn't believe how intuitive Cassie was about relationships and emotions.

Lily looked coy, 'well yeah I know, having a boyfriend would be nice. Its just finding someone' She put her head down. 'But whatever you say, I wouldn't want it to be James in a million years'.

Cassie smiled. 'Ok no probs, we'll find you someone easily. You're gorgeous!'

Figgy nodded in agreement. Lily couldn't help but think what amazing friends she had. And perhaps it would be good for her to find someone who can help her get rid of this thing she had for James., then they can both move on and live their lives.

'So Amos?' Figgy asked.

Lily shook her head. 'No, I want someone kind, he's a bit selfish and arrogant'.

Cassie looked like she had had a brainwave, 'I've got the perfect guy. You get on, he's sweet and cares about you'.

Lily and Figgy both looked on in anticipation.

'who?' screamed Figgy.

'Remus' smiled Cassie, 'isn't he perfect?'

Lily did think a lot of Remus but it was too complicated with him being one of James' best friends.

'He is nice but..'

Figgy had cut Lily off, 'He's great'

'I know I'll go and find Sirius and set something up'. Both Cassie and Figgy had completely ignored Lily's protests and was putting their plan into action. But it wouldn't be that bad Lily thought. Remus was a nice boy and would treat her nicely; but what if he didn't see her like that?

Meanwhile Cassie had knocked on the Marauders' door and James answered.

'He's not here' he said straight away.

'oh, well where is he?'

'Dunno, I'm not his keeper'. James rolled his eyes; seeing Cassie only reminded him of Lily, someone he needed to keep out of his head at the minute.

'Well thanks for all your help' Cassie replied sarcastically.

James shut the door in her face and as she went down the stairs she bumped into Sirius.

'Why hello Hogwarts beauty, is there any chance of turning you into a portrait so I can stare at you all day?'

Cassie sighed, 'no time for that now, come with me' Cassie whisked him towards the Common Room.

After explaining all that had happened today, she was not happy to see that Sirius was less than enthused about the plan.

'I just don't see Moony going for it after what's happened between Lily and James. He's a very loyal friend'.

'A quality that Lily loves. James has moved on, he's with Hannah, surely you want Remus to be happy too'

Sirius looked pensive for a few minutes. 'That is true, Moony hasn't been on a date in ages and I do believe he feels something for Lily but James has always stopped him in the past from doing anything about it'.

Cassie screamed in glee 'yay, you'll help then?'

Sirius agreed and decided to have a word with Remus later.

When Sirius reached his room, he went inside to see James laid across his bed. Obviously in a bad mood Sirius pushed him.

'What was that about earlier' Sirius said in an accusatory manner.

'What you on about Padfoot' James replied in surprise.

'Cas said you was rude to her'

'Come on, you know what girls are like, bit temperamental.'

Sirius laughed and nodded in agreement. They both turned towards the door to see Remus arrive with a huge pile of books.

'Alright mate' Sirius greeted him.

Remus gave him a nod and sat down on his bed.

'Up for a date on Saturday? I know a girl whos into you' Remus looked surprised and James bolted up eagerly waiting for news of the girl.

'Is Moony getting a girlfriend?' James teased.

'Who' Remus asked.

Sirius licked his lips, loving the attention he was getting for knowing all the gossip.

'None other than Evans'

'what?' James shouted ' Moony doesn't like her do you mate?'

'Erm I dunno, she's nice but I think I'll leave it this time thanks Padfoot.'

James looked happier but still rather disgruntled that his mate was getting the attention off the girl he had been harbouring feelings for, for sometime.

'what? She's hot, clever and completely into you! Are you mad? I bet she's quite easy too' Sirius said wickedly.

'Shut up Padfoot' James spat at him. 'Moony wants a nice girl, not bossy Evans'

Remus looked up, 'Lily is nice, its just with how you felt about her its not the best idea at the minute'

'I don't like her any more' scoffed James. 'I couldn't think of a worse way to spend my Saturday'.

Sirius grinned 'so that's settled then, Saturday at eight Moony?'

'Yeh ok'

James was seething. His mate going on a date with the girl he wanted, or used to want. He thought about spying on them, but he knew if he was caught, he'd be in trouble with his friend, Lily and Hannah. It was best just moving on and concentrating on Hannah for the time being.

He had to get out of the room though, seeing the smile on Remus's face was enough to make him feel sick. He ran down to the Common Room only to find Lily sitting in the corner reading a book.

'Evans' he said just to show he had acknowledged her.

She looked up but didn't say anything.

'Congratulations on your date with Moony, I hope it works out well' He tried to make her talk to him, he hadn't spoken to her in ages properly and he missed her.

Lily looked surprised, 'I hadn't realised he had said yes'

James smiled, 'why wouldn't he?'

Lily went red and tried to pretend she was reading.

James carried on and couldn't help what was coming 'He usually likes uptight, arrogant girls so you fit the bill perfectly. There was no way he was gonna turn you down'

'Me? Arrogant? What about you, pretending you own everyone here, that you're superior to them all' Lily said obviously very angry.

'Whatever Evans, anyway see you later, I've got to get to a laid back girl, one who worships the ground I walk on. Who have you got that loves you Evans?'

With that he walked away hating himself for being horrible to her, but he couldn't help it. His defences had gone straight up because he had been rejected for his best friend. It wasn't something he was used to. Lily, meanwhile carried on reading with tears forming in the corner of her eyes.


	20. Dates and Bullies

Hi, thanks for the reviews, I almost ended it thinking I had no more readers

Hi, thanks for the reviews, I almost ended it thinking I had no more readers!!

Chapter 20 – Dates and Bullies

Lily had never felt more comfortable with her forthcoming date with Remus. After James's attitude the previous evening she knew it was time to move on and make a proper go of things. After all James had gotten over her very quickly. She had decided against buying a new outfit knowing Remus would be more interested in conversation rather than what she was wearing; he was a nice boy unlike these players after one thing. Just then thoughts of James popped into her head.

Meanwhile James was pacing his room wondering how on earth he had messed his life up in one year. He was dating a girl he only really had platonic feelings for and the one girl he couldn't stop thinking about was going on a date with his best friend! And to top it off she hated him and because of that he was constantly in a bad mood which was annoying both Hannah and the maurauders. He didn't want to lose his friends because he was miserable. He really didn't know what to do. He sat on his bed and the door opened; it was Remus. James had barely spoken to him in the past day, he couldn't even look him in the eye.

Remus was aware of the atmosphere that had been following him and James around for the past few days. He was determined to put an end to it.

'Alright Prongsie' he said in great hope that he would respond.

James looked up, he saw pain in his friends eyes; he had always promised he would never let a girl come between him and his friends. But this was Evans, the girl of his dreams. But then again, this was Remus, his best friend for the past six years.

'Alright' James grinned.

'Look mate, I can see this is tough for you, I know me and Lily are bothering you. I've decided to cancel'

James looked surprised. Was this a good or a bad thing?

'No it's ok honestly, recently I've discovered Evans isn't the girl for me. I'm very content with Hannah. And if you want to date an annoying stubborn witch, that's your call'.

Remus smiled and nodded. 'You sure you're ok then?'

'Definitely'

Remus looked happy with their talk and James was pleased also that they had cleared the air. He was determined to convince himself he no longer cared for Evans. Hannah was the one for him.

Meanwhile over in Lily's room she had just finished putting a little bit of makeup on for her forthcoming date. She had Rushed Figgy and Cassie out of their room so she could concentrate without them giggling. She was actually excited, she'd never been on a proper date before. She had dressed in a pair of jeans with a turquoise shimmering cami top; the mirror told her she looked 'perfectly pleasant'. She was happy with that – she didn't want to appear overdressed.

Thinking about what a date with James would be like she thought Remus's would be much more romantic. James would probably take her down secret passage ways and steal dinner from the kitchens. Remus would be a gentleman.

Looking at the clock, Lily had to set off. They were meeting at the entrance hall and Lily had no idea what he had planned. She arrived there seeing no sign of Remus. She wondered if it was a cruel joke that he and James had cooked up between them. Thinking of James she looked outside and saw the Lake where he had taken Hannah. Perhaps he was romantic.

Lily let out a sigh of relief seeing Remus show up, looking very smart. However her stomach didn't do the flip it sometimes did around James.

'Hi Lily' Remus gushed. It was apparent he didn't go on many dates either. 'You look spellbinding'.

Lily blushed. 'Thank you, you don't look too bad yourself.'

There was a couple of seconds silence before anyone spoke again.

'So where are we going?' Lily asked.

'Oh right. Well I know a shortcut into Hogsmeade that leads near Honeydukes. I thought we could get some chocolate and watch the snow fall'

'That sounds lovely'. Lily concluded.

They were both on their way through the dark and dingy passageway. Lily thought this was an odd turn of events. James takes his girlfriend to a romantic picnic by the Lake and Remus the gentleman breaks her out of the school through a passageway of spiders. But she was willing to cut him some slack. She had to stop comparing him to James.

'After you' Remus said, taking her hand, motioning her to jump down. He jumped down after her and they were in the Shrieking Shack.

They ran out, went into honeydukes to get some everlasting chocolate and found a bench to sit and talk on. Lily found that she had a lot in common with Remus and was having a really nice time.

'No way is that the better algorithm' Lily laughed.

'Miss Evans, you are for once quite positively incorrect' Remus said, imitating Professor Binns.

Lily laughed loudly and uncontrollably, hardly being able to keep her head up.

'Shut up, he wouldn't say that' she said in between giggles.

Remus looked solemn, 'You're quite right, you're never incorrect.' He looked into her eyes and tucked her hair behind her ears. They gazed at each other and Lily was sure he was going to move in for a kiss. 'You know…' He began but was stopped by an old man and woman who was passing.

'You know' croaked the old woman. 'I could really fall for you' she said to the old man right in front of him. 'Your algorithm knowledge is lacking but your eyes are just the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen'

In a flash the old couple morphed into James and Sirius.

'Hold me' James said to Sirius and he did just that. They then fell down laughing. Lily turned a shade of crimson while Remus was trying to calm the boys down.

'You're not funny' Remus said.

James and Sirius collapsed in laughter yet again. Remus turned to apologise to Lily but she had gone.

She had ran as fast as she can, more willing to face the spiders and darkness again rather than those boys mocking her. To think she was starting to reassess her feelings for James and he goes and pulls a stunt like that! She got through the passageway and to her horror she faced James leaning casually against a pillar.

'You should be in bed. 5 points from Gryffindor' She stormed past him trying to muster as much courage as she could. James pulled her back, his eyes fixed upon her. He looked intense and intimidating. She was petrified.

'What' She replied. 'Surely you don't expect to be best friends after the prank you've just pulled.'

He was cold and to the point. 'I'm a dangerous man from a dangerous family Evans.' At this point Lily was frightened, he looked dangerous.

'What's this got to do with me?' There was a quiver in her voice.

'Tonight was a reminder of what I'm capable of. I don't like you being with my friend, so I'm making you aware of it.' He looked menacing and quite frankly she had not seen him be so serious. 'I'll have some fun with you; this is just the start of it'. His eyes lit up and Lily knew he meant what he was saying, James wasn't one to deliver empty threats.

'I haven't done anything to you' She said in just as cold a tone. She didn't want him knowing she was scared.

'Call it boredom then'. He stroked her cheek and smirked. Lily watched him walk away and her eyes filled up with tears. She had been humiliated on a date she was actually enjoying and now threatened by someone she had thought she had feelings for.

She got back to her dormitory and Cassie and Figgy immediately knew something was wrong. Lily was shaking and looked near to a shade of white.

'Whats wrong Lily?' Figgy asked in concern.

'Nothing' she replied as she got into bed.

'We're not stupid Lily, look at the state of you. Did Remus try something?' Cassie asked equally as concerned as Figgy.

Lily hid the truth from her friends, something she had never done before. 'Nothing of consequence, just a stupid prank James and Sirius pulled on me. I'm just being stupid.'

'I'll kill him' Cassie said with reference to Sirius.

Lily gave them a fake smile and pretended she had got sleep as soon as she hit the pillow. Truthfully, she hadn't slept a wink all night.

James hadn't slept much either. He knew he was being cruel but it was the only way to deal with Lily seeing her best friend. He wanted to make her pay. Remus hadn't spoken to him at all when they had got in and the morning wasn't looking much better. But it wasn't like Remus to ignore his friends.

Whilst changing Remus got angry. 'You know I gave you the chance for me to cancel. But now you're responsible for me losing her as a friend let alone more'

'Sorry mate, but she had it coming.'

'Did I? No but James Potter doesn't think about his friends does he' Remus slammed the door behind him. James didn't feel guilty, if he couldn't have Lily, she was going to know he was in charge. It was his game, not hers.

He went down to breakfast and saw Lily, looking terrible, at the table. He smirked and raised his eyebrows as he went past. She just looked down at her uneaten bowl of cereal.

She looked apologetic to Cassie, 'I need to go' She ran out of the room and went to her room. She was genuinely scared of what he was going to do. Was this because of Remus? What had she done wrong.

Figgy saw her come in the room.

'You ok Lils?'

'Yeh fine, why?'

'You don't look too good'.

Lily smiled 'I'm fine. You're a good friends. Now lets get to Transfiguration' She grabbed Figgy's hand.

'Whipeeeee' she replied in a sarcastic tone.

Lily and Figgy went to the front of the class and Cassie caught up with them.

'Lily I've had words with Sirius. He claims it was nothing more than a joke and you're high strung. So I threw my juice in his face'.

Figgy laughed. Lily was as silent as she had been all morning. She caught James' eye as he walked in the room. He was loving the effect he had on her.

'Lily' Cassie's voice had gotten louder.

'Yes'

'I've been trying to talk to you! Now what's gone on. We're worried.'

'I'm fine. I promise'

The class had begun, Lily could feel James' eyes bearing into her. She knew what he was like to his enemies. He was clever and manipulative. He treated the Slytherins awfully and they could never get the better of him.

By the time class had finished Lily had had enough. She just wanted to be on her own. Remus stopped her on the way out though.

'Lily, I'm so sorry about last night. I don't want it to come between us, maybe we can try again'.

Lily couldn't look him in the eye, 'I'm sorry I can't'. She hurried away and James looked on with a smirk. At least he had separated them.

He followed her to the Common Room and watched her pull a book out of her bag and start her homework.

'Well, well, well.' He said as he stepped into the light. Lily looked up and he knew he was getting to her.

'Look, how about you leave me alone and I'll leave you and your friends alone'.

'I'll think about it' James replied, a smile playing on his lips.

Lily proceeded to ignore him but he pulled out the chair opposite her and just stared.

'Please leave me alone. I don't see why I'm the victim of your torment' she pleaded.

'Lets just say I have an interest in you.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' She asked.

He stood up, brought his hand up onto her neck and pulled her in. He stopped when her lips was an inch from his. 'Kiss me' he demanded.

She pulled away in disgust. 'Stop it, why are you playing games with me?'

'Why was you willing to kiss Remus, but I'm not good enough' he spat.

'Is this what this is all about? Because I prefer your friend to you?'

'Shut up' he said. He stood up and began to walk away. 'I won't forget this Evans'. He glared at her as he left.

Lily hurriedly put her books into her bag and ran to her room. He was being so horrible, where had it come from? They were getting on quite well and all of a sudden he changed because she agreed to go on a date with his friend. The worst thing was, she had never felt as alive as when her lips were close to touching his.


	21. Darkness and Despair

Hi, thanks for the reviews, in response to updating faster, I decided to update after a certain amount of reviews, only because I don't want to be writing with no readers :D so if you like it please review! Hope you like the next chapter!

Chapter 21 – Darkness and Despair

What to do next was the question spinning around in Lily's mind. James had mocked her, threatened her and then tried to kiss her. She felt humiliated. She wished she could be harder, but James was an intimidating man with his broad shoulders and a way with words.

Revenge was the only thing Lily could think of, but a big stunt would only make James retaliate and all she wanted was to go back to life before him and work towards her NEWTS. If she was to get revenge, the best thing would be to ignore him and do just that. If she put all her effort into her work, he'd get over her and move onto some other helpless girl.

Over in the Marauders room, a week since the Hogsmeade event the tension was still mounting. Moony hadn't spoken one word to James in that week.

'My dear boys' Sirius announced as if about to break into song, he was a very theatrical boy. 'Dune day is fast approaching, and Cassie and the girls will be joining us for the day. I hope that won't be a problem' He eyed Remus and James, of whom were sitting at opposite ends of the room.

Dune day was a wizard's holiday to celebrate the great Emelda Dune who won the wizard's rights to use portkeys which was a taboo before the 17th century due to muggle negligence. Had a muggle unknowingly used a portkey it would have provoked many questions. But Dune with the help of a powerful discretionary charm won over the wizards council back in 1654. Hogwarts celebrated Dune by having a day off studies to honour her memory.

'I don't have a problem with anyone' Remus said casually.

'Prongs?' Sirius asked.

'Me neither, but I think I'll be with Hannah anyway'. He replied.

'Bring her along then' Peter suggested.

James had thought a lot about Hannah recently knowing he would never like her as much as he likes Lily. He was feeling terrible about how he'd been treating Lily, but he was used to getting what he wanted and found it hard to deal with the fact that she didn't want him. He had only seen her the once after his threat in the common room, after she was coming out of Potions. She had glared at him which was admirable considering she knew how much power he had in the school. He liked her feistiness. But apart from that one exchange, he hadn't spoken to her. Dune day however could be a perfect opportunity to take charge and maybe make her his.

But he'd have to ditch Hannah first.

'Please come Lily'. Cassie begged. 'We've been studying so hard this last week, I've hardly seen him, and it's rare for him to organise something.'

'No' Lily wouldn't look her friend in the eye. 'After what happened with Remus, I don't want anything to do with the Marauders.' She hadn't told her friends what had happened in the common room that night knowing it would stir up a lot between Cassie and Sirius, who were surprisingly getting on quite well.

Lily decided to go and clear her head, the idea of spending time with the Marauders had bought back unwanted memories of James. She walked down the grand staircase and through the entrance hall to get to the grounds. Fresh air would do her good. However far into the distance she saw Remus, she turned away but she could hear him shouting her name.

'LILY' she heard. 'WAIT A SEC'

She turned round and he was approaching her.

She smiled 'You ok?' she asked.

'I'm fine thanks; I've been hoping to catch up with you at some point though. I just want to make sure we're ok if we're spending Dune day together.'

Lily blushed. 'actually I'm not going. I do love the picnics and the music they put on but I think it will be too awkward.'

'I thought we were friends.' Remus looked puzzled. 'I know things haven't been the same but I'd hate to lose you as a friend'.

Lily pulled him into a hug. 'Don't be silly, you'll never lose me as a friend. It's just I've had a bit of trouble with James recently and would rather not see him.'

Remus nodded understanding fully. 'I know he can be intimidating, he has money and power and sometimes I feel a bit inferior. But nonetheless I know him, I know he cares about you and wouldn't want to see you hurt, even if he is a knoozle sometimes'.

'I don't know, he made it clear the other day he'd rather see me hurt than with someone else.'

'Lily, I'm sure he wasn't think-'

'I have to go' Lily exclaimed quickly. She saw James hand in hand with Hannah sitting on the grass, realising he must have seen the hug and the friendly exchange of conversation.

Remus had also noticed why Lily had left and shot James a glare. James was beginning to feel a bit guilty that he may be stopping a girl he cared about and his best friend being happy. He made his excuses to Hannah and ran after Lily.

'Evans', he said just loudly enough for her to hear.

There wasn't anyone around and Lily was a bit scared of what he might do.

'I'm sorry, I tried to ignore him but he came after me. We were just talking I promise.'

James hadn't realised how scared he must make her. She was a strong girl and she was petrified of him. He raised his hand to ruffle his hair wondering how to play this and she cowered away from him.

He felt disgusted with himself. But still didn't know if he could manage seeing his friend with her again.

'I just came to tell you that if you want to be with him, I don't care anymore. Do what you want'. That was all he said and he turned around to rejoin Hannah.

Lily was shocked. She was free of his bullying tactics. She didn't want to be with Remus but it was nice to know she could be friendly with him again. After their 'date' as much as she had enjoyed it, she realised her feelings were only platonic. She wanted the butterflies and goosebumps when she went on a date.

She arrived back into her room and saw Cassie and Figgy debating what outfits to wear for tomorrow.

'I'll go with you' Lily said, of which both girls replied with a shriek.

The girls woke up on Dune day to hear the trumpets playing outside their window. Figgy immediately jumped out of bed to look outside.

'It looks amazing! Come on girls, get up, get dressed'

Cassie groaned and Lily knew how to get her out of bed.

'Come on Cas, Sirius will be waiting. Think how hot he'll be looking in his regular clothes.' And with that one sentence, Cassie was up like lightning.

All three girls had gotten ready quite fast, excited for the days events. Cassie had run up to Sirius and gave him a massive hug. 'Happy Dunes day' she said and kissed him on the lips.

Sirius pulled away 'what a day!' and whacked James on the back. James had arrived with his arm around Hannah. Lily had noticed that recently they had become inseparable. Hannah looked incredibly happy to be seen with the star quidditch player. James was in his uniform today and even Lily had noticed how good he looked. His tanned skin and dark hair finished the uniform off brilliantly and most girls' eyes were on him instead of the parade.

Remus was eyeing Lily up and motioning her to follow him. She hesitated at first, looking at James but since he had obviously noticed what was happening and didn't even look at her she decided to go.

'Lily, You look amazing'

She smiled, 'Thanks, but it's only my old clothes. Figgy and Cassie bought a new outfit each for today' She laughed.

'You're ten times better than them. Look, James had a word last night and said he's happy with Hannah and that I should try again with you. He apologised for his prank- he really encouraged me to try. So what do you think?'

Lily was shocked. Had James gone off her? Was he really that happy with Hannah? She seemed a little bit upset that he had gotten over her so quickly.

'Remus, that's so sweet you'd want another chance. It's just I don't think I see you as anything more than a great friend. I'm sorry'

He nodded and gave her a hug. 'It's ok. I shouldn't have expected a great girl like you to fall for someone like me anyway.'

Lily punched his arm. 'Oi! You're great, I just don't think we would work'

She grabbed his hand and they rejoined their friends. James saw them hand in hand and walked off in another direction unable to see them like that. Spying the opportunity to talk to him without Hannah being there, Lily sacrificed the parade and followed him out.

'James' she shouted.

He ignored her. 'James' she pulled his arm.

He turned around. 'Evans'.

'Thanks for what you did'

'It's fine'. He walked away from her and she pulled his arm again.

'I'm trying to talk to you'

'I thought we were done' he said sheepishly.

'I wanted to let you know I turned him down.'

James looked shocked. 'Why, I thought you liked him?'

'I do, just as a friend'.

James nodded. 'Oh, is he ok? I feel bad now that I encouraged him only for him to be turned down'.

Lily felt quite guilty at that moment. 'I think he's ok. Anyway I'd better get back to my friends'.

'You selfish bitch' He said glaring into her eyes.

Lily looked shocked – it had come out of nowhere.

'Do you get a kick out of playing with boy's feelings? Get their hopes up by flirting and then dropping them. Does it make you feel good?'

'Course not' She whispered, tears forming in the corner of her eyes.

He pushed her into the wall of the classroom. 'I think everyone should know how big a user Lily Evans is. You act interested one minute, and the ice queen the next. What for? Does it make you feel good?'

The tears were streaming down Lily's face now. 'Shut up. You're one to talk anyway. Being nice, then flipping to this power mad man. I've heard the rumours. Are you trying to be your father? Money and Power gone to his head; thinks he can treat his wife like rubbish. Is that who you want to be?'

James stepped away, how had Lily known about his father's reputation. She lived in Spinners End, miles away from him.

'Did the poor little rich boy not like that? Thinking he can dictate when his friends can date and who they can date. Well I've had enough Potter, I-'

He cut her off and placed his lips on hers. His body trapping hers against the wall so she couldn't escape. He deepened the kiss and was surprised by her eagerness to kiss him back. All of a sudden she pushed his chest away and slapped him hard across the face.

'How dare you' She went bright red with fury.

He laughed. 'Angry with yourself for kissing back? That horrible power mad man you just described kissed you and you wanted it just as much'. He smirked.

Lily didn't know what to do next. He was right; she was finding it hard to resist; he looked amazing in his uniform and his confidence and power were appealing attributes. But she was still angry with herself. She hated that she hadn't pushed him away five seconds earlier.

She pushed past him out of the classroom and ran to the ladies toilets. She wiped her eyes and made herself decent again and rejoined Figgy.

'Are you ok Lily?' She asked. 'James said that you went back to the room ill'.

Lily smiled, 'I'm ok now thanks Figgy. I didn't want to miss this'. She looked at Sirius and Cassie cuddling whilst watching the men and animals carrying useless objects that obviously represented portkeys. She wished it could be that easy for her; she wanted a relationship that was loving and caring; not full of hate like her lust for James.

He looked over to her whilst whispering in Hannah's ear. He looked like he did the week before. He looked dangerous and intimidating. She knew there wasn't much of a way out now that he had a hold over her.

The parade had finished by about 4 o clock and all the students poured into the Great Hall for cakes and tea. They sat on their allocated tables and yawned through most of Professor Dippet's speech on the importance of portkeys in the wizard's world of today. Lily hadn't been concentrating at all which was unusual for her. She was so confused; this year had been a puzzling one. She had feelings for a boy she hated.

Growing up, she had always fantasized that she would meet someone nice and it would be easy. They would fall in love, get married and have kids. Little did she know then that the person she had fallen for would be playing mind games and making her feel this awful. She looked over at him; she didn't hate him at all, if anything, she was growing to love him. The months where they had been spending time together, where she had been helping him with the 'girl' he liked had been the happiest months of the year. How had it gotten this bad?

James was wrapping his fingers around Hannah's, trying to get his mind of earlier events. He had enjoyed the kiss so much but wished it was under different circumstances. Obviously Lily had been willing- he felt that. But he scared her, he saw it in her eyes. Had he become his father? He needed to change. Fast.


	22. End of term

Chapter 22 – End of term.

James had been running through all his run ins with Lily over the past year and came to the conclusion that he had to change. Yes he loved her, yes he had to let her go. He had so many deep feelings for her that he had become dark and dangerous. He wasn't used to not getting his own way and it brought out the worst in him. He remembered the look in her beautiful green eyes when she had pushed him away from the kiss. Hurt, pain and longing. She had enjoyed it. He smirked.

'Stop it James' , he said to himself. He had to forget about her. She could do better.

Term was nearly over and everyone was packing and getting ready to go home.

Lily was in her dorm wondering if she was happy to go home to get away from the events of this year or sad to go back to yet another summer hiding from Petunia and her horrible insults. She knew one thing, it would be nice to see her mum and dad again, comforting even.

'Hey Lils, not mourning about the evil witch sister again are we' Cas said. She laughed loudly, 'haha, isn't it funny, you're actually the witch but she acts like it'. Cassie looked pleased with herself.

Lily couldn't help but laugh with her friend, she'd miss them both so much.

'What are you doing about Sirius? Planning to meet up? I can't believe you've lasted the whole year'.

Cassie feigned to look mad at her friend then relaxed. 'Me neither really, there were times I didn't think we'd get through it but we did well. We have made a few plans, going to meet in Diagon Alley at some point. What about you, will you miss James?' Cassie was clearly looking for answers, since Dune day both Lily and James had been weird with each other, hardly speaking, not even rowing!

'I'll be happy to get away, happy to let him get on with Hannah.' Lily surmised.

'What happened Dune day Lil?' Cassie asked with a tenderness to her voice, 'something went on, Sirius said James hasn't been the same and you've been strangely quiet too'.

Lily smiled at her best friend, 'nothing, really, everyone suspects something has happened between us over the past year but honestly, we became close friends, then realised we couldn't get on. Dune day was just a reminder of that.'

'If you say so, I'm here when you want to talk'.

Lily felt guilty for not telling her friend the truth but it would have gone one or two ways. She'd go mad, shout at James and everyone would have known they'd kissed or she'd have felt sorry for her. Neither seemed appealing when she was trying to let go of her feelings and get prepared for home.

She lugged her suitcase into the Great Hall, there was only oone or two cases there already, but she was usually prompt. She lined it up and looked up at the staircases with sadness on her face like she did at the end of every year. She'd miss it. Yes, this year had been different, too many encounters with boys and not enough studying, next year would not be the same she told herself. She looked in the direction of the first floor and James was pulling his case into the Great Hall also. She was surprised as he was usually one of the late ones, but maybe, she thought, he was looking forward to escaping the events of this year too. He had his normal clothes on, he had a look of concentration on his face, obviously not clocking Lilys presence. She ran behind a pillar watching him; she couldn't face him yet. They hadn't talked since the kiss, she couldn't. She couldn't admit to herself she had wanted him and kissed him back so she was scared he would say it for her.

She watched him line up his case next to hers. He noticed it was her case, he couldn't really miss it, the nametag was huge. She watched him as he picked the nametag up and gazed at her name for a few seconds, sigh then walk away. Did he still like her? Well feelings don't just go away overnight, she was evidence of that herself.

Cassie, Figgy and Lily were all in their train compartment waiting for the train to set off. They had their snacks next to them, Lily was going to enjoy her trainride, her last moments with her friends before they parted for the holidays and she had to endure the company of her sister.

'Hello gorgeous, I had to come and see you one last time' Sirius was in the doorway, Lily could see the other marauders behind him. She locked eyes with James and averted her eyes at once, she looked at the floor, the only place she could hide.

Cassie looked elated. 'Come in then you great big goblin'. He came in and took her hand. He crinkled his nose, 'I'm gonna miss you you know.' Peter and Remus burst into laughter. James just gazed out of the window.

Sirius looked at them in disdain, 'Least I have a girl to miss which is all I can say for you three lumps of magic.'

Cassie looked at James, 'what happened to Hannah?' she asked curiously, then looked in Lily's direction who until now had been looking at the floor.

'She just wasn't for me, only ended it a bit ago, didn't want her thinking we was something we wasn't over the summer.'

Peter chipped in 'or holding you back from the hotties you can score over the summer' he chuckled but everyone else looked at him in disgust.

'Good for you' said Figgy, 'admirable'.

There was silence again. The train was full of hustle and bustle, people coming in and out of compartments. There was a brief moment where Lily and James were on their own. It was awkward to say the least. So much had gone on between them over the last year.

James spoke first, 'I'm sorry Evans, you was right, I'm a carbon copy of my father; I didn't mean to scare you on Dune day, I-'

Lily cut him off in shock, going red thinking of that day, 'honestly don't worry about it, it's not a big deal, I had forgotten about it'

'It's a big deal to me, I never wanted to hurt you, I cared about you. I was an idiot, I just didn't know how to handle what was going on with you and my mate. That you nearly kissed, that you considered dating him and how you didn't give me a second thought. Guess my arrogance took over.'

He looked up at her wondering what was going through her head as she never said anything. All she took in from james' apology is that the word 'cared' was past tense. Had he moved on? Did he not care anymore?

'Look I just apologised, you could say something'. He looked exasperated.

She looked around, noone was to be seen, it was like their friends had planned this. She looked at James not knowing what to say, she hadn't even been honest with herself about her feelings. He was so easy on the eye, so charming and now single and she couldn't even say she wanted him. What was wrong with her?

'Thank you Potter, lets just forget about that horrible day. Fresh start?' She half smiled.

James looked relieved, 'thats it? No lecture, nothing you want to discuss?'

Lily looked at the floor again, 'No. There's nothing to discuss.'

James sighed, noticing his hands had fisted up, he was tense. Their friends poured in again and sensed the atmosphere. There was moreorless silence until the train pulled into Kings Cross. Lily watched James leave, she couldn't take her eyes off his mouth, the mouth that was on hers, that felt so good just that short time ago. The mouth that was usually dishing out insults for her. She was still sitting in her seat looking out the window as he greeted his parents. He looked happy to see them. His mum looked kind and sweet and his dad had that powerful look but you could tell he loved his family. She watched them leave and felt very sad. He didn't even say goodbye, what happened to their fresh start? He obviously didn't care anymore.

Getting off the train she smiled as she saw her own lovely mum and dad waiting for her. Next to them was Petunia, with that horrible scowl on her face. It was going to be a very long summer.


	23. Fresh start?

Chapter 23 – Fresh start?

It was a new term. Lily's summer had been an uneventful one – same old same old she thought. Screaming matches with Petunia, catch ups with mum and dad, letters send and received to Cassie and Figgy. No changes. Bar one.

Lily had spent a great deal of her summer spending time with Severus who lived just around the corner. After her horrific year at school, she realised they both had a lot in common; they both felt like outsiders. She hadn't told him anything about her dealings with James; he was shrewd enough not to mention any of the rumours he had heard but she didn't join in with his insults towards him either. She decided she would be neutral. Fresh start (even if he had neglected to say goodbye at the station). However, it was nice to spend some time in the summer with someone from the Hogwarts world. She would never admit it to herself but it made her feel connected with James Potter somehow.

She was about to step onto platform 9 ¾ when she remembered some important advice Snape had given her over the summer.

'It's newt year Lily, we need to put work first if we want to get anywhere'. He was right, no more experimenting with relationships like last year. Her studies were what are important. James bloody Potter was no longer at the forefront of her mind.

'LILS!' screamed Cassie and Figgy! She smiled, her studies and her friends were what was important. She gave Severus a knowing nod which he mirrored and went into the Slytherin carriage.

'Lily have you seen Sirius yet? I'm dying to see him!' Cassie exclaimed with her face lighting up.

Lily giggled 'No, but you haven't seen me all summer, you've seen him at least twice! It's my turn to steal you for a bit. Now tell me what happened at your time away in his summer house'

'Oh yeah Cas, we want all the details' piped in Figgy.

Cassies sighed, 'It was just magical, everything at school is just a façade. He was romantic, loving, and just very gentlemanly. I don't think much of his family though. Very weird'

Cassie went on to describe how amazing her summer days were as Lily began feeling very jealous. Why was it she had secretly spent her summer wondering what the newly single James Potter was up to over the summer, wishing she could write to him or casually bump into him and Cassie gets a fairytale break away with the school philanderer? It wasn't fair.

'…And we just danced in the garden as if we was back in the Ballroom' she finished. Figgy looked insanely jealous too. So it wasn't just Lily. 'But now I want to know where he is' Cassie demanded.

As she said it Remus and Peter popped their heads around their carriage.

'Hi girls' Remus said, nodding in Lily's direction. 'Prefect meeting has been cancelled Lils, but you and Snape are heads.' Lily already knew this as they had originally opened their letters together down in Spinners End. Not that she would tell her friends this.

'Congrats Lils' shrieked Cassie. 'Erm Remus, do you know where Sirius is?'

'He's not coming by train this time, James' dad is driving them in, he has some business with Dippet'.

Cassie sulked 'But it's our last train journey. If you see him before me, let him know he is in a teeny bit of trouble.'

'Will do' And they left.

Lily was glad, she had Head girl duties to think about and didn't want Potter ruining it. Her plan of action was to go back to how they were pre-feelings. She would be argumentative and just ignore him most of the time, then hopefully, this year will be a lot less complicated. Forgetting about that kiss might be a bit of a struggle though.

'What's on your mind Head girl' Cassie said in delight 'Head girl in my dorm! I never would have thought'.

'I was just thinking, fresh start. I want to forget all that rubbish with James last year, forget it all happened and concentrate on doing well'.

Figgy frowned, 'but if you like him, you need a social life as well or do you not plan on having a family after school?'

'Course I do, but he comes with such complications. I want to be with someone where it is simple. That's my goal.'

Cassie looked confused, 'What's not simple, he's fit, he's Quidditch Captain, he's single and you have amazing chemistry together'.

Lily looked down. 'What aren't you telling us Lily' Cassie asked.

She looked nervous and Figgy stroked her arm, 'You can tell us, you know that'.

'We had a moment last year and it all went sour after that, I want to move on and forget'.

'What do you mean moment?' Cassie asked.

'He kissed me.'

'What!' Cassie and Figgy said at the same time. Cassie spoke first 'Did you like it? Was it good? Did you kiss him back?'

Lilly buried her head 'Yes, yes and yes.' She lifted her head up, it was good to talk about it, 'but then he left me alone completely, I think he thought he went too far.' She gave them both a stern look, 'this is not to go farther. I don't want anyone knowing particularly Sirius' she warned.

'Of course not Lily' Cassie looked annoyed 'I wouldn't say a word. Maybe you're right, leave him have some space and just see how this term goes.'

The journey came to an end and the girls took their luggage to the castle. Their dorm looked the same as always and it was nice to get back into their routine. Lily left them for a few minutes to do a sweep around the castle. As Figgy said 'can she not leave her duties on the first night?', but Head girls had to lead by example.

Lily wondered around the girls' wing, saw Remus on the other side of the stairwell and shot him a wave. He waved back in a ridiculous manner which made her giggle. See, she thought, things wouldn't be too awkward this year. She walked along thinking to herself, her arms wrapped around herself when she saw him.

James. He was with his father by the entrance of the castle. She hid behind a pillar, she wasn't ready to speak yet or meet his father, who she'd heard such menacing stories about.

He had changed, a lot. He was a lot taller, broader and his voice seemed much more grown up. He was like a proper man. She looked down at herself, she was still a girl. No match there. She watched James shake hands with his father as he left. You could see they had a loving relationship and the same warm glint in their eye. She sat down for a few minutes, it was still there, she still cared. But nonetheless, she had to ignore it, she was leaving this school with the best NEWTs she could.

She went back to the dormitory to find Figgy and Cassie both fast asleep. She looked at the clock, she had been out hours. There was a note on her bed.

-Lils, we tried to stay up for you but you've been gone ages. Hopefully up to no good in the broom closet but we doubt it. Love you xx-

Lily chuckled, she had the best friends and that was all she needed.

The next morning, the girls were all set to go down for breakfast. The first day was a settling in day, getting their timetable and unpacking. In a way it was the best day of the term. Lily put her Head girl badge on and smiled at herself in the mirror.

'It suits you' said Figgy with a smile. Lily smiled back.

The girls all linked arms and went down for breakfast. Cassie told them earlier she was having a girly breakfast and she would see Sirius later on in the day. Usually she would try and convince them to all sit together but after Lily's confession, she was being sensitive about the subject. Lily sat down next to Cassie and saw James across the table. He was laughing with his friends and she couldn't help but stare. He had grown up so much, he had matured. Cassie elbowed her, she must be staring a bit too obviously.

The girls all had a catch up, hearing about Figgy's holiday away with her family. Lily felt too ashamed to say she'd spent the majority of time bonding with Snape but instead let them believe she spent her holiday arguing with Petunia and wallowing over James.

'I did manage to complete two parchments for the Ancient Runes assignment though' Cassie and Figgy did not look too impressed.

'Hello beautiful' Sirius had run up behind Cassie and planted a kiss on her cheek. 'You could have joined us for breakfast'. He put a sad face on.

'I'm having a catch up with my girls but I'll see you later' they smiled at each other and he left.

'Yuck' Figgy said 'What happened to you two?' Cassie didn't respond; she just smiled. No one ever would have thought Cassie and Sirius to be the lovey dovey type. People change was all that was going through Lily's head.

'Hi girls' James had just walked past them with the Daily Prophet under his arm and didn't even wait for a reply. Lily felt a great deal of sadness. Normally, he'd hurl her some abuse or some flirty comment. Had he moved on? Wasn't this what she wanted though, for him to grow up and for her to concentrate on her exams? She was confused.

She went to the library, she knew she'd be alone and she could do a bit of work. She saw Hannah on the way, her arms linked in with Amos Diggorys. A turn up for the books Lily thought.

Four hours later, Lily had read several books and taken several more out ready to read back in the dorm. A productive day for her studies resolution. She had six books in her arms and a kind second year held the door out for her as she went smack bang into someone and the top book flew off the pile.

James caught it.

Lilly giggled nervously 'Those seeker skills pay off sometimes then'. She looked up anxiously waiting; the conversation she had been waiting to have with him all day.

'Here, let me take the rest of those books before you throw them all at me'. Lily looked sheepish, James didn't even wait for her to retort or for her approval he just took them. Like a gentleman, she thought.

They walked along in silence until James spoke, 'Good summer?'

Lily continued to look down at the floor, when he was being this nice she couldn't look in the direction of his mouth.

'Yes thanks, got lots of work done. You?'

He grinned, 'It was good, I got to be an apprentice at my Dads. He's an auror. My mission is to get good results so I can train after school. I loved it.

Lily looked up, she was surprised. He had shown no kind of ambition before. 'That's brilliant. I'm sure it won't be a struggle for you though.'

He laughed, 'Just got to keep my head down and if I need any Charms help come to you' he joked. 'Anyway here we are'.

They had arrived at Lily's room. She was a bit sad their walk had been so short but at least she had had the chance to talk to him.

'Erm, did you know Hannah was seeing Amos now?'

James didn't flinch, 'I didn't.' He handed her the books and opened the door for her. 'Goodnight' Lily stared after him walking down the corridor. He looked so good in his Quidditch robes.

She knew she was in trouble now. He always looked amazing but it was his personality that angered her. He was arrogant, childish and a Marauder. After the summer he had changed. He looked just as good, maybe better, more muscular. But now, he was charming, gentlemanly and he wasn't trying to wind her up. He had changed into a mature young man and still managed to keep that charming cheekiness about him.

Yep, she was in big trouble.


	24. Lost tempers

Chapter 24 –

Three days had passed since James had carried Lily's books back to her room. He was all she could think about; she spent her lessons staring at him. She even went out of her way to pass him on the halls. Luckily it was only the beginning of the term so her grades were not suffering but she was still miserable. James Potter was handsome, mature and worst of all available and there was nothing she could do about it. He wasn't bothered about her anymore, he was determined to become an auror – ambition, who wants that in a man anyway?

Cassie and Figgy had both noticed she was more quiet than usual but had put it down to pressure of the NEWTS. Although she had revealed to them about the kiss between her and James, she had showed no signs of still liking him, she just stuck her head in a book and subtly monitored his movements. She knew his timetable off by heart now, she knew when he had quidditch practice and she knew that most of his spare time was spent studying. How the tables had turned, she thought, he was obsessed with her most of their school life and now he had his life focused, she was becoming obsessed with him.

Lily was spending the afternoon in the Common Room studying with Sirius and Cassie which was slightly uneventful.

'No!' giggled Cassie 'Hands off! We're studying!'.

Sirius smirked and put his hands up in the surrender position, 'I can't help it when there is such beauty before me'.

Lily rolled her eyes. She started putting her work in piles; there was no way she could get on with her assessment on the effectiveness of non-verbal charms if they were going to act like loved up children all afternoon. Then she saw him. James Potter walking towards her; he looked wonderful – his hair wasn't quite in place, but she had come to realise she actually liked his messy hair.

He grinned, 'I've been looking all over for you'.

Lily blushed, looking for her? Maybe he was renewing his feelings for her. James took a seat next to her and Sirius responded.

'What's up mate?' He asked. Now it all made sense to Lily, of course he wasn't looking for her. He was looking for Sirius. Stupid Lily.

Lily started scribbling her thoughts on non-verbal charms quickly trying to look engrossed in the text so as to not look at or hear James. She pretended she didn't even see him nodding at her and Cassie as an acknowledgement.

'My dad owled me, apparently it's all kicking off at the Ministry. They reckon a Wizard war will be on the horizon and they have increased the number of applicants for Auror training. You need to get the NEWTS Padfoot and you'll definitly have a chance!'

Sirius looked excited, 'Prongs! That's fantastic. Lily give me this book, I need to write this assignment properly'.

Lily couldn't help but smile, she passed the text book over.

'What about you Evans and Cas?' James asked, 'Would you two want to become Aurors?'

Lily just shrugged. Cassie snorted, 'No way I would do that well in the NEWTS. I would rather be a stay at home mum and housewitch'.

Looking at Sirius' face, James and Lily couldn't help but laugh.

'Come on angel, we need to do well in Charms now, we have a focus! Let's get to the library'. He grabbed Cassie's hand and dragged her off in the direction of the library, leaving James and Lily on their own.

Lily looked awkward, she wasn't sure how to approach this situation. She liked him a lot, he had moved on and was looking towards his future.

She looked at him and he looked back with a puzzled expression. 'What?' He laughed.

'I just can't believe James Potter has got his future somewhat sussed out.' She said whilst writing the last sentence to her paragraph.

James laughed, 'not really. I just know what I want to do after Hogwarts that's all'.

She looked into his eyes, 'Well you just seem to have everything so together, you're lucky'.

'Not everything. I have a career sorted, but no house, no family.' He looked at her as if he was asking her a question. Lily swallowed. Was he asking her to be apart of his future or was he just stating facts?

'Well everything sort of falls into place when you're a grown up doesn't it' Lily offered.

He grinned, 'so they say Evans, so they say'.

Lily laughed nervously. 'With a high flying career you'll need someone who wants to be a housewitch and look after you.'

James gave her a funny look, 'I'll keep my eyes peeled then. Wanted, non-ambitious, few unicorn hairs short of a wand, can make a mean pumpkin pie.'

'Few candidates round here then' Lily giggled.

There was silence. Lily was unsure of the atmosphere around them. Was it rekindled feelings? Was it pure uncomfortableness? All she knew is she couldn't break from his eye contact. She wanted him. She needed him. How would she go about getting him when he had matured long past her. She was apart of school James, not future James.

'I wanted to ask you something' James said, sensing her discomfort.

She looked confused, 'ok'

'I jus-'

'knock knock' a small fourth year Gryffindor popped his head round the door. 'I have been asked to remind Miss Evans that a Mr Snape is awaiting her company in the Heads chambers.'

He left. Lily had never felt so furious – here she was having a conversation with James in what felt like forever, he was about to ask her something and she had no idea what it was but desperately wanted to know.

'Please carry on' She said to him, her eyes meeting his. She couldn't read him but his tone changed in his voice.

'Honestly, it was nothing. Snape's waiting for you.'

He left before she did. She felt a tear leave her right eye. Was he going to ask her to become more than friends? Don't be stupid she thought. We're barely friends now. We hardly speak.

She made a decision, she didn't go straight to the heads chambers. She followed James and knocked on his door.

He answered, he was shirtless. Lily could not look directly at him. He was in the process of putting his sweatshirt on so she looked to the side of him until he did so.

'You ok Lily?'

'Erm yeah.'

'Can I help you with anything?' He looked amused. He was now fully clothed.

She looked at him, she couldn't believe there was a time that she did not like him. He was so fit! Shirtless or shirt on.

'I wanted to know what you was going to ask, it sounded important' she said sheepishly.

He looked at her, she looked nervous. Did she like him? After everything he put her through last year? He knew he had been an idiot. He had threatened her, embarrassed her, teased her and here she was, clearly pleading with him to ask her out. Was she the idiot?

He couldn't do it to her. He was a fool and she was a lovely, kind hearted girl who deserved much better than him.

'I wondered whether the Wizards chess ban you put on last year exempted seventh years was all'

Her face fell, she pushed her way in so noone could see their conversation.

'That was what you was going to ask?'

'Yes.' His face did not change at all. Lily was frustrated.

'After everything last year, those months we spent together, the jealous rages, that kiss! We're a month away from the Ball and all you wanted to ask was whether you can be exempt from a rule.' Lily spat.

James looked surprised, Lily had lost her cool. He was amazed she had admitted to a degree she had liked him.

'If I'm honest I wasn't aware there was a Ball, I've had a lot on my mind.'

Lily looked deflated. She couldn't believe the conversation that had just taken place; what was this boy doing to her?

She turned to leave, 'I'm sorry, not sure what is going on here but I'm going to go.'

James was very confused 'Lily, wait –' but she had ran out of their room, faster than she had run from Hogsmeade that time James had embarrassed her.


End file.
